Thank you for your thoughtful response, Desiree. I have not, however, given up hope. I make a special effort, however, to balance optimism with realism. And realistically speaking, our global market economy ("Glomart") is fundamentally incompatible with Gaia, because it is predicated on endless growth of population, production, and consumption while Gaia is finite, and not getting any bigger. And now, with climate disruption, extinctions, and social breakdown, the bill is coming due. So our task, as I see it, is to shift "hope" from the collective realm of human civilization as a whole to the more personal realm of how we can best survive the inevitable collapse: growing gardens, growing community, and growing awareness. And out of this, plant the seeds of a whole new Gaian culture, in a symbiotic, rather than parasitic relationship to Gaia.