By Kerry Trueman

Scientific American gives us a rather drastic example of the ol’ “good news, bad news” routine today.

First, the bad news: an apocalyptic “Beyond the Worst Case Climate Change Scenario” which says, in essence, that our collective global goose may already be cooked.

But, just in case it’s not, they give us “Ten possibilities for staving off catastrophic climate change.” The recurring theme? Cut back on consumption, whether by biking to work, giving up meat, or having just one kid, as Bill McKibben advocated in his 1998 book Maybe One: A Personal and Environmental Argument for Single Child Families.

Or, if that kind of sacrifice doesn’t appeal to you, you could go a bit further back, to satirist Jonathan Swift’s modest proposal, which offers a way to have as much meat”and kids”as we can eat. One thing’s for sure; we’ve gotta stop cannibalizing the planet.

Go to Scientific American’s 10 Solutions for Climate Change to see what you can do to lower our planet’s temperature.