There’s a switch”, says Ben Foster, who plays the villain Bertrand Zobrist in the film "Inferno". “If you throw it, half the people on Earth will die. But if you don’t, in one-hundred years the human race will be extinct.”
Last year Padma bought me the book "Inferno" - no, not Dante's but Dan Brown's - which deals with the one big problem of our time which cannot be solved through solar power, recycling, and hybrid cars.
Lack of clean water, rising global temperatures, ozone depletion, rapidly dwindling ocean resources, species extinction, deforestation, CO2 concentration, and rising global sea levels is all caused by one single problem: global population - or rather, the dreaded o-word: over-population! - because if you want more clean water per capita, you need fewer people on earth; if you want to decrease vehicle emissions, you need fewer drivers; and if you want the oceans to replenish their fish, you need fewer people eating fish!
Like Dan Brown's "Da Vinci Code" and "Angels & Demons", his book "Inferno" has also been made into a movie, and Padma's just bought the DVD which turns Dante’s prophecy of seven hundred years ago into today's spine-chilling reality.
"They'll think of something", I hear you say, "there's always a solution!" because that's what the world's politicians, environmentalists, and power brokers want you to believe while privately they put their heads in their hands and weep.
Of course, one hundred years is a long time for us to keep ignoring the dreaded o-word, especially if you and I have already used up most of ours. Why do I feel so much better for knowing that I'm on my way out and not on my way in?
P.S. Record your reaction below - sorry, no field for 'depressing'.
