I'm entirely skeptical about science - funded with public dollars (taxes) - that needs a crisis so voters and politicians will continue to pay for their work. I was around in the 70's when hair spray and deodorant was killing the ozone layer and we couldn't buy freon for the air conditioners in our cars because 'science' told us we were destroying the planet. (That was all crap.)
Science and Doomsday Preachers both need money, and both groups require the world to be ending to get any. But Data is Data all by itself.
Are we killing the planet? Is global warming the catastrophe Science is claiming it to be? Is fracking (which has increased our energy supply to the point where $2/gallon gas is again a reality) causing earthquakes? If we continue fracking, will earthquakes increase in number and intensity? Is ground water level decreasing as rapidly as Science says? Are weather patterns really changing because I drive a Jeep instead of a Tesla? Is the sky falling?
I don't know, and neither does science. But science promises to tell us if we give it enough money.
Capitalists and greedy oil companies tell us not to worry. Just be happy and buy more stuff.
Common sense tells us the world is changing, but it doesn't know whether that is good or bad.
Ego tells us that whatever happens, we will overcome through ingenuity, effort and adaptation. We'll figure out how to deal with whatever happens - unless it's a great big asteroid in which case only the cockroaches will survive no matter what we do.
Faith tells is that God is in control, and He won't let anything too bad happen.
I don't know what to think. But I think it's in all of our best interests to live a slower, simpler life. Among the benefits thereof, we consume less resources and kill fewer trees. But that's not a sustainable answer for future generations, and doesn't really address the 'health and wellness' of the environment we live in.
I wish someone would figure this out and tell the rest of us. Someone who doesn't need our money to find the answer.
But overall, I think we need to understand that whatever stress us humans put on the global ecosystem, the planet can handle it. It's been here for four billion years, and will be here long after we're all gone. Saving the planet is not the issue. The issue is whether the planet remains a place where we can live, thrive and be happy.
And there is a whole lot more to that issue than just the environment.