(2) Precarious Environment
Pretending that these problems don't exist is less and less tenable, but no busy person can track them in detail. Even deeply-involved environmentalists can't keep up. Critics think environmental worries are overblown; but investigation reveals a more serious worry -- science knows too little.
This arena is becoming so complex and extensive that environmental specialists can't keep up either. An expert on groundwater migration may be vaguely unfamiliar with the latest in atmospheric emissions. And the ecosystem is the quintessential complex system. Vital connections between subsystems may be hard to see.
This militates against haste trying a geo-engineering fix, like loading the upper atmosphere with sulfate particles to decrease solar intensity. That would decrease the photon load hitting the earth's surface, but plant photosynthesis needs photons, so would this decrease crop production? How would it affect the ecosystem in general?
A similar unease grips the critics of genetic plant engineering. So far, this seems not have led to disaster, but the possibilities are in infancy. Critics fear that uncontrolled experimentation will eventually lead to something like a global kudzu, which would be difficulty to repel, especially if bred to be resistant to herbicides or other easy means of dispatching them.