To an extent, you're right. But we're also making a lot of progress. I learned that Lake Erie was once thought to be more or less permanently dead. But now it's one of the premier walleye fisheries. They even hold fishing tournaments for professional walleye fishermen on Lake Erie. (Now that's an appealing profession.) The new diesel fuel formulation will result in a tremendous reduction in pollution by commercial vehicles. Low sulfur coal, recycling, increased gas mileage in private cars, all suggest we are moving in the right direction. Most home appliances are "energy saving."

Now if we could only get fast food patrons to stop throwing their refuse out alongside the road.