By comparing past problems with present ones, the author draws attention to the （）

A．significance of this cr
B．inadequacy of governments
C．similarity of the past to the present
D．hopelessness of the situation

The energy cr, which is being felt around the world, has dramatized how the careless use of the earth’ s resources has brought the whole world to the brink of disaster. Tile over development of motor transport, with its increase of more cars, more highways, more pollution, more suburbs, more commuting, has contributed to the near destruction of our cities, the breakup of the family, and the pollution not only of local air but also of the earth’ s atmosphere. The disaster has arrived in the form of the energy cr.

Our present situation is unlike war, revolution or depression. It is also unlike the great natural disasters of the past. Worldwide re sources exploitation and energy use have brought us to a state where long - range .planning is essential. What we need is not a continuation of our present serious slate, which eners the future of our country, our children, and our earth, but a movement forward to a new norm in order to work rapidly and effectively on planetary problems.

This country has been falling back under the continuing exposures of loss morality and the revelation that lawbreaking has reached into the highest places in the bad. There is a strong demand for moral revival and for some devotion that is vast enough and yet personal enough to enlist, the devotion of all. In the past 5t has been only in a way in defense of their own country and their own ideals that any people have been able to devote themselves wholeheartedly.

This is the first time that we have been asked to defend ourselves and what we hold dear in cooperation with all the other inhabitants of this planet who share with us the same enered air and the same enered oceans. There is a common need it reassesses our present course, to change that courser and to devise new methods through which the world can survive. This is a priceless opportunity.

To grasp item we need a widespread understanding of nature if the cr confronting us--and’ the world--a cr that is no passing in convenience, no by - product of the ambitions of the oil - producing countries, no environmentalists’ mere fears, no by - product of any present system of government. What we face is the outcome of the invention of the last four hundred years. What we need is a transformed lifestyle. This new lifestyle can flow directly from science and technology, but its acceptance depends on a sincere devotion to finding a higher quality of life for the world’ s children and future generation.