We have reached a time in our history when we really are hitting the environmental wall. Many environmentalists have been warning about this for decades, but now we are truly at the eleventh hour. Our culture and practices are not sustainable and we must change.

- Climate change is affecting us all, and will likely lead to agricultural collapse.

- Our water systems are overused-- 70 percent of the world's fresh water is used to irrigate crops, and every continent has rivers that do not meet the ocean any more. In the US the Colorado and the Rio Grande are the obvious examples.

- We are cutting down our global forests at a rate of 0.1 percent per year.

- 80 percent of our fish stocks are either over-fished are collapsing.

- Species are becoming extinct at unprecedented rates.

The only way for us to address these issues is by looking at them with a cold eye, using all the facts, and making the decisions that will work for all the issues at once.

We all make decisions in our lives that matter. Now we need to think about them more, and change our actions with an eye to the future of the whole planet.