What's being missed is that a massive restructuring of the economy needs to take place. As long as we continue to believe that economic growth and consumerism are good things, no amount of "green" legislation will help - it will only prolong the inevitable. If you reduce greenhouse gases but continue to deplete the earth's natural resources, you still end up in the same place. The only solution is to create a steady-state economy based mostly on local production of basic living necessities combined with population reduction. Since nobody wants that to happen because they love TVs, cars, Ipods, and babies (aren't the little buggers cute?) too much, we are basically doomed.