Re: Global warming as a useful label
He didn't claim that they were being addressed, just that they needed to be.
Climate change is the poster child of all environmental issues right now, and even it is being given scant attention because of the economics concerned. The other issues you've raised are even less likely to gain any attention, unless it becomes clear that money can be saved if those issues are dealt with. Even then it'll only happen if the money saved ends up in the pockets of the people who have to take the action.
Personally I don't think the earth is overpopulated - at least not quite yet. However, the choice of methods we use to cultivate food for that population are driven by the money markets rather than by concerns of overall efficiency. As a species we're always going for the easy options, and in much of the world that means we're taking a slash and burn approach to everything, leaving the cleanup and restoration costs for other people (likely other generations) to deal with. Eventually we'll be forced to stop this sort of behaviour, but more likely due to running out of these natural resources rather than from any sort of concerted programme to try and keep ourselves in check.
Based on current consumer behaviour we probably crossed the line of population sustainability a few decades ago. I don't think we'll ever have an intentional cull of our numbers but eventually we will do it inadvertently - war is inevitable when important resources like food and fuel become scarce.
This wasn't meant to be an anti-capitalist rant (and I apologise if it's coming across as such), but the reaction to climate change is sadly very typical of how we treat problems that need global cooperation. On this basis the future doesn't seem very assured.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
