LONDON -- It's a law of physics that translates well into the behavior of human beings: The greater the mass involved, the more effort is needed to overcome its inertia. But it doesn't read very well as an epitaph for civilization.
The information we need to act is around us every day. Three small, low-key stories in the inner pages of the newspapers I read at breakfast -- the sort of stories you find in the media almost every day -- should have been enough to galvanize every reader into instant action. But the human version of the laws of physics gets in the way.
The first story was a warning by the Meteorological Office in Britain that summer temperatures in southeastern England may reach as high as 46 degrees C by the end of this century.