World fisheries decline, even collapse. Coral reefs are dying. Carbon-dioxide emissions soar, further destabilizing world climate. Deforestation is widespread. Prime farmland is paved.
Vast fires rage seasonally in many of the world's tropical forests.
Polar ecosystems are fragmenting. These are certain signs of policy failure and moral bewilderment. The first step is to see how we have led ourselves astray. We have thus three challenges ahead of us. First, to come up with an adequate account of our minimal obligations to each other, and to the rest of the natural order.