An Arctic refugium under assault

in politics and business to sacrifice the well-being of a faceless future population for the short-term benefits to be gained for present-day voters and shareholders appears to be irresistible. While the Ehrlichs and the other scientists cited here all tend to end their dire warnings on a more hopeful note, emphasising that a change of course is still possible, none of them seems overly optimistic that it will actually happen. While the older generations of today’s population may not live to see our civilisation fall, Rees’s fifty-fifty odds are an uncomfortable thought for all of us who want to leave a habitable world to our grandchildren. The present-day Algerian town of Timgad has built a new theatre right next door to the Roman ruins. Maybe international meetings like the COP climate change conferences should be held there as a matter of principle. Contemplating the traces of a collapsed civilisation can clear the mind considerably.