It's very clear that the quality of life for the average human is better than it has been at any other time in history, and that we've been on the upward trend

It's very clear that the quality of life for the average human is better than it has been at any other time in history, and that we've been on the upward trend for a long, long time. The mistake is looking at that historical trend and falling for a whig history belief that this trend is the unstoppable march of history and things will always get better, when it's very possible that we are the generation that is approaching the peak. These gains have to be fought for and protected. The principle issue is that this past century's gains have been built on borrowed time - namely on limited resources that sow the seeds of global environmental catastrophe with every extracted Joule that allows for the next temporary marginal gain in quality of life. Things are better now than they've ever been. But if someone sticks their head in the ground and ignores the problems that are already starting to manifest they might be in for a rude awakening.