“Where have all the flowers gone, longtime passing …” Pete Seeger’s words, made famous by so many artists of the 1960s and 1970s may contain the ultimate refrain for today’s environmental challenges: “When Will They Ever Learn?”

While the focus of Pete Seeger’s song was social injustice and the calamity of war, his song transcends time. It may even be more relevant concerning today’s environmental issues and challenges.

One of the most successful college basketball coaches in the nation has a saying – “You play the game of basketball against yourself. Your opponent is your potential.” It’s a great analogy not just for basketball, but for any undertaking. So many times, it is we, ourselves, that limit our endeavors and successes. That is exactly why addressing environmental problems may be the ultimate challenge presented to a generation. The Great Wars, the Depression, Vietnam, Civil Rights, the Korean War – all of these issues had a common trait. The enemy was in your face. With environmental issues, one can make the case that there is no enemy in our face – we are the enemy! And it’s far too easy to walk away from the fight. Make no mistake though, someone will eventually pay and it’s probably going to be in our children’s lifetime.

It is now generally accepted that global warming is real. The debate today is whether the human population is a contributing factor. In the early 1800s, world population reached 1 billion for the first time. Since then population levels have increased significantly.

1820 1 billion

1930 2 billion

1960 3 billion

2000 6 billion (CIA World Fact Book)

By 2042 the U.S. Census Bureau predicts a 50 percent growth in the world’s population to 9 billion. It defies common sense that the growing population’s demands on materials and resources will not have some effect on the earth we walk on and the air we breathe.

Of course, the longest, fiercest running debate has been determining at what point our planet will run out of oil. Oil is the fuel for our economies, but also a source of much pollution. One thing we can all agree on, however, is that it is a finite resource and at some time it will run out. The question is when.

Geologists, energy experts and economists don’t agree on how much oil remaining is usable and recoverable. However we do know the annual consumption rate, and looking at historic figures we know that the use of the world’s oil has grown by about 2 percent annually. China now has almost a 7 percent projected annual growth rate in oil consumption and India has a projected rate today of nearly 6 percent. Those two countries, with almost a third of the world’s population, are absolutely the wild cards in predicting future demand for oil consumption. While the United States is beginning to reduce its growth rate, it still uses about 25 percent of the oil produced in the world.

Estimates of proven oil reserves to meet future consumption demand will vary. With compounded projected demand we will deplete our reserves sooner rather than later. Whatever number of barrels of oil we use annually today, we will need more next year and more the year after that and so on. The cost of producing oil to meet that demand will only go up.

Many corporate leaders, state and city governments, world businesses, most scientists and, maybe most importantly, our younger generation do believe there is a environmental crisis and are working to change the way we live. These are “the facts on the ground.”

For those of you who don’t buy the global warming scenario, you have to ask yourselves what are these proponents asking us to do that is so terrible? They are asking us to better utilize our remaining resources, not to discharge pollutants at historical levels, and live our lives with consideration for the affect we have on others. And, just maybe, cease to send exorbitant sums of money out of the country.

Business leaders happen to be moving green, not only because it’s good business and good for the environment but because their sons and daughters are coming home from college, high school, and grade school and making the case for change. The young will change the world, just as the young activists of the ’60s and ’70s brought the Vietnam war to an end and pushed for civil rights and equal opportunity. Where is the generation that led the fight for civil rights, served their country in the military and the Peace Corp, enacted the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, Equal Rights Amendment and overwhelmingly heeded the call by John Kennedy, “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country?”

And, the basketball coach that has that great saying above? Bobby Knight! You never want to shoot the messenger – Al Gore just might be right on.

Peter Reilly of Greenville is a financial consultant.