We humans are about as subtle as the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs. Acid rain and global warming show that we hold immense power over life on Earth, yet we wield it indiscriminately.

The damage we do is increasing. In the next 20 years, the population will increase by 1.5 billion. These people will need food, water and electricity, but already our soils are vanishing, fisheries are being killed off, wells are drying up, and the burning of fossil fuels is endangering the lives of millions. We are heading for cataclysm.

In this section you will find three scenarios - three routes to catastrophe that we face unless we can tackle the evils of overconsumption and the yawning gap between rich and poor. Climate change, pollution and population growth each has surprising and potentially devastating impacts. Aspects of all three will strike before this century is out.

QUIZZES: ANGEL OR DEVIL?

How do you measure up?
Are you helping to save humanity or contributing to its downfall? You could be in for a shock

Is one planet enough?
How many Earths would be needed if everyone on the planet enjoyed your standard of living? Calculate your own ecological footprint

Latest: Sun more active than for a millennium
A study of ice cores reconstructs sunspot intensity for the last 1150 years - "we are living with a very unusual Sun," say scientists

Global Climate Trends

A climate change scenario for the late 21st century
The Earth is warming and the pace is quickening. Where will it end? Tune in to the late 21st century to find out...

Latest: Squeezed plastic is recyclable and cheap
Using pressure instead of heat to make the novel plastic means it degrades far less and could be re-used many times

A pollution scenario for 2070
Pollution was once a local problem. Then came the thinning ozone layer. Insecticides turned up in the blood of Inuit people. Pollution had gone global. But that was just the start

Index of Pollution articles

POPULATION GROWTH

Latest: Destruction of Amazon rainforests accelerating
Satellite data reveals a huge jump in deforestation - a bid to improve Brazil's soya production may be to blame

Global Population Trends

A population scenario for the start of the 22nd century
As the global population grew during the 20th century, scientists responded with new ways to feed extra mouths. People ignored the fact that these methods were largely unsustainable. But you can push the world's resources only so far...

Index of Population articles

BIODIVERSITY

Latest: New whale species found in museum
The stunning discovery follows an analysis of a few leviathan skeletons that have been gathering dust for 25 years in Japan

Humanity creates its own mass extinction
In the second half of the 20th century, the Earth lost 300,000 species

Index of Biodiversity articles