Hunker down, everyone--the world is ending! (?)

On page B6 of today's WSJ: The Informed Reader quotes from the Nov. 15 Rolling Stone about where the world is going. And, if you don't think it's going down the drain already, you will after reading these [emphasis mine, as always]...

• "Craig Venter, a biologist known for cracking the human genome, says disease is a bigger worry than global warming." - (Ha! That's why I'm a biologist, not an environmentalist...)
• Jane Goodall implies that China's energy hunger will destroy the world's "pristine forests." - I like forests as much as the next ...er...guy. They're lovely expressions of God's handiwork and help us breathe easier and communicate in today's paperful world. They're also fun to make artworks of--"I think that I shall never see / A poem as lovely as a tree" (don't remember the original author, but Ogden Nash parodied it, and I parodied him in my 'kidney' post). However, there's also the fact, which I have stated several times before, that non-human organisms are the culprits for 96-98% of greenhouse gases.
• Quoting Tom Hanks: "[T]wo issues threaten to tear apart U.S. society: abortion and gay marriage. 'These are the things we're going to be arguing about, fighting about... It's going to be vehement.'" - Good for you, Tom, to say this! Not quite sure what side you're on, but at least you're getting the question plainly on the table. Shall we begin more Civil War preparations, anyone?