dryzek, summarized:
survivalists and prometheans - the former believing in the old malthusian philosophy that we are on the path to destruction, the latter insisting that mother nature is a cornucopia that can never be drained dry. look at the trends, the prometheans say, onward and upward. every time we think we're going to run out of a resource, we find something new, or we manipulate matter so that we get something for nothing. to hell with the 'apocalypse now' scare tactics; they're nothing but a political tool. look at reality, say the survivalists. a person driving a car at 60 mph towards a brick wall with his eyes closed is going to believe he's fine at every point - up until he hits the wall.