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Relentless human-population growth coupled with rising consumption has outpaced the planet’s ability to cope. An article in BBC’s Green Room says we are now in "overshoot" — our numbers and levels of consumption greater than Earth's capacity to sustain us for the long-term. The writer says we must end world population growth, and then reduce population size in industrialized as well as developing nations.

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The focus on reducing carbon emissions has blinded us to the real problem - unsustainable lifestyles. A writer in BBC’s Green Room says climate change, though serious, is only one of a growing list of problems resulting from the way we live. And cutting emissions is like using methadone to cure heroine addition.

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In this week’s BBC Green Room, columnist Stefaan Simons argues that carbon offsetting may make people feel better about emissions but it does little to change behavior or save the planet from global warming. Instead of simply allowing polluters to pay for emissions – a short-term solution — society must make radical changes to move to a low carbon economy and cut reliance on fossil fuels.

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While many think declining oil production would be good for the climate, a new book suggests a chilling scenario of environmental and economic catastrophe. Oil is the biggest single source of greenhouse gases, it argues, but coal and gas are bigger still, and the inevitable growth in their emissions would overwhelm any reduction from oil.