Sometimes it is hard not to be doom and gloom. There are so many sources that try to scare you. Just an example: Just recently I bought a book from B&N "Universe In Your Pocket" by Joel Levy. Anyway it has a full three pages on doomsday scenarios and the likelihood of those events occuring. It is rather frightening. The one with the highest risk assessement is Ecological Meltdown "Many parts of the world face an imminent water crisis, with dwindling resources constantly being stretched farther and farther. Water wars may well break out in the future. This water crisis is exacerbating the terrible problems of soil loss and desertification, which are worsened by the increasin salination of many soils around the world. However, all this could just be the tip of the iceberg - as the developing world tries to increase consumption and quality of life to developed-world levels, the Earth faces drastically worsening problems of pollution, habitat destruction, overfishing, population pressure, ans so forth. Research shows that the global ecosystem can probably absorb a lot of damage without changing drastically, but above a certain threshold, it will inevitably - and suddenly - collapse. Result? Drought, famine, disease, disaster. Risk assessment: 7/10"
There are constant reports from sources that say that by the year 20?? we will have a complete meltdown.
Anyway, I guess I am still doom and gloom hopefully I am just a cynic and none of these things will occur.