1945-1998 Visual History of Nuclear Testing

At this critical juncture we have two options:

The 6th Mass Extinction Event.

(r)Evolution of Consciousness.

In all probability it is too late to avert the 6th Mass Extinction Event now underway, but we can mitigate its worst effects and reduce the suffering it will entail and possibly survive and learn from our mistakes by collectively re-assessing the core myths of Technological Progress and Industrial Civilization.

If we do not alter our behavior our demise and undue suffering is most certain.

See also: 
http://dieoff.org/

Energy has always been the basis of cultural complexity and it always will be … the past clarifies potential paths to the future. One often-discussed path is cultural and economic simplicity and lower energy costs. This could come about through the “crash” that many fear — a genuine collapse over a period of one or two generations, with much violence, starvation, and loss of population. The alternative is the “soft landing” that many people hope for — a voluntary change to solar energy and green fuels, energy-conserving technologies, and less overall consumption. This is a utopian alternative that, as suggested above, will come about only if severe, prolonged hardship in industrial nations makes it attractive, and if economic growth and consumerism can be removed from the realm of ideology. — Joseph A. Tainter