At the same time, we learn that the Earth's population will have risen to 7 billion. The human race is preoccupied with itself, Ladies and Gentlemen, and it will stay that way under even harder conditions. We won't stop our Global War against nature for nothing. Of course, a sense of anxiety concerning the state of the environment has begun to spread, especially in Germany. On the other hand, however, we have more than doubled the armada of automobiles in a relatively short period of time.
Accidents caused by nuclear and chemical industries start a never-ending chain.
Social patterns will change All this belies the common thinking that enlightened public institutions and democratic majorities can be trusted to prevent the worst to happen. Social patterns will soon change dramatically under the onslaught of our excessive way of doing business . The taboo of violence will be further undermined on a public as well as on a private level by the ruthless defence of properties and privileges. By the middle of the next century, the industrial countries will hold no more than 20 per cent of the world's population. We will be forced to keep at bay a flood of refugees from the Third World.