You are right. We should have been making significant changes 30 years ago. I understand your realism and that does frighten me especially with our population due to double in probably 50 years. We need some kind of innovative technology....I'm hoping that the efforts in Quantum Mechanics and the Quantum Computer will get us there. Having more time to think and learn, I see a world where we need large cities running off energy-efficient, green tech. Cities that can support large amounts of people without large impacts to the environment or our health. Instead of having so many scattered towns, cities, etc, we have major cities. The rest is left for Nature to recover. To breathe. There are highways that are only meant to connect cities to cities. Those allowed to live outside of the cities have to live off the land. These are fantastical thoughts, but it's the imagination that leads to the future.