Reaction to "The Collapse of Western Civilization"

I love the style that Oreskes and Conway chose to point out the folly of our current treatment of environmental issues. Writing "from the future" is a clever way to comment on events in recent history; they can appear to do so in an objective way, as though they are not living through this with uncertain knowledge of the consequences. They can also reveal the possible consequences as historical fact and not merely prediction, which makes those consequences seem more real for the reader.

This could sound as if I am skeptical of the claims that Oreskes and Conway make. I am not. That being said, I believe it is necessary to approach such works with some suspicion. I firmly believe in human-caused climate change/global warming, and I am inclined to believe Oreskes and Conway. However, it is always important to get information from more than one source--especially when predictions are being made. After all, only listening to one source often leads to climate change denial.

I must now admit to not having done much research on this subject, and none since beginning to read The Collapse of Western Civilization. But regardless of how well its predictions can be supported, I believe it has an important message for us: If we want to maintain our current standard of living, we must act now to preserve our environment. It will require sacrifices in our habits of consumption, but it will save us from a good deal of future suffering.