We are so screwed

I came across two articles today each of which reported on a major scientist's predictions about humanity's future. One is entitled "Humans must colonize other planets: Hawking":

LONDON (Reuters) - Humans must colonize planets in other solar systems traveling there using "Star Trek"-style propulsion or face extinction, renowned British cosmologist Stephen Hawking said on Thursday.

The other article is entiled "Gaia Scientist Lovelock Predicts Planetary Wipeout" . Here's part of what it says:

LONDON - The earth has a fever that could boost temperatures by 8 degrees Celsius making large parts of the surface uninhabitable and threatening billions of peoples' lives, a controversial climate scientist said on Tuesday.

James Lovelock, who angered climate scientists with his Gaia theory of a living planet and then alienated environmentalists by backing nuclear power, said a traumatized earth might only be able to support less than a tenth of it's 6 billion people.

"We are not all doomed. An awful lot of people will die, but I don't see the species dying out," he told a news conference. "A hot earth couldn't support much over 500 million."

"Almost all of the systems that have been looked at are in positive feedback ... and soon those effects will be larger than any of the effects of carbon dioxide emissions from industry and so on around the world," he added.
...
Lovelock adopted the name Gaia, the Greek mother earth goddess, in the 1960s to apply to his then revolutionary theory that the earth functions as a single, self-sustaining organism. His theory is now widely accepted.

I simply do not understand the level of denial existing in the world's leaders. Even the ones who accept the science do not seem to have the sense of urgency that is required.

And the leaders of the world's religions are virtually silent on this subject. They should be shouting about this from the housetops.