Ecological Crisis Timeline
Take this really simple equation:
P (population) x S (services used by people) x E (energy needed to power those services) x C = CO2 (carbon dioxide output)
Population is getting bigger, so too are the services people demand, especially in the developing world as more people move up Maslow's hierarchy and demand cars, air conditioning and the modern basics. These two facts P and S, irrelevant of the efficiency of those machines (E) means more green house gasses.
Every part per million (ppm) we go past 400ppm of CO2 in the atmosphere increases our chance of a disaster happening. Whilst the everyday chances of something happening is remote, everyday by doing nothing we are purchasing an accumulative lottery ticket for doomsday. The most likely occurrence would be if we remove the foundations of Maslow's hierarchy of human needs lack of water and food which causes mass migration would be the most likely tipping point. “Only a crisis – actual or perceived – produces real change. When that crisis occurs, the actions that are taken depend on the ideas that are lying around.”