OK, I was willing to stay out of this whole thing until you made that statement. Don't let those "so called" environmentalists brainwash you. That's the problem with most "activists", they almost never get their facts straight. Most are uneducated misty-eyed college kids, or overgrown frustrated hippies. And they're leaders just use lies to fan the flames of activism so that they get more and more support (contributions!). These are the same people that advocated nuclear power in the sixties, killed the nuclear power industry in the seventies, and are now whining about "global warming" (due to fossil fuels)! Now solar energy is supposed to be our way out, but they forget to tell you about all the heavy metals and arsenic used in the production of solar cells. When people start building industrial sized solar plants they'll be whining about THAT!They also forget to mention that that technology cost 10 times (80 cents per kWh) as much as what we use today. <img src="images/graemlins/crazy.gif" alt="" />

Progress is real... period. Even the "problems" we face in modern life are nothing compared to what our ancestors had to overcome. "Global Warming", which many notable scientist even doubt really exists, is nothing in terms of a threat to mankind as say, the Bubonic Plague... or surviving the Ice Age. But since the Ice Age and the Plague are "natural" gifts from "Mother Earth", I guess they're somehow OK compared to manmade disasters. Unless you happen to have been one of the people to die from it! <img src="images/graemlins/smirk.gif" alt="" />

And life expectancy relative? No bud, that's absolute! I am 38 years old and figure my life is only half over. If I had lived as a citizen of the Roman empire, as cushy as it got just a mere 2000 years ago, I would most likely already be dead.

Its fine if you wanna be a starry-eyed dreamer about a future where we all live in harmony with Gaea. But you ought to at least show a little gratitude to the people that gave you a lifestyle where you have the leisure time to sit around in your heated/air-conditioned house pondering such a state. We couldn't have even had this conversation 200 years ago, we would have been too busy laying up firewood or hunting for food.