Those in power benefit too much from oil price increases.

As much as I sympathise with your reader, Philip Christensen, his earnest plea for the truth about climate change is destined to fall on deaf ears among the movers and shakers of this world, Unfair to Gore? (October 22).

The reason is simple: to accept honestly the consequences of this man-made calamity would require such profound economic, political and social reforms that the current world dispensation could not escape drastic reshaping. To move from the growth-orientated life philosophy to a steady-state (non-growing) one will be a huge upheaval.

Therefore, we are bound to endure much more of the tug of war between the “concerned world citizens” and the “denialists” for as long as there is even a glimmer of hope that the gathering storm can somehow be weathered with as little deviation from the present course as possible.

No doubt this will ultimately prove impossible — the finite world demands that its boundaries be eventually recognised and respected — and drastic action will then be unavoidable. Even Al Gore is quite aware of this “realpolitik” by advocating primarily technological solutions to contain global warming (his own star would certainly shine much less brightly otherwise).

The only problem with this kind of approach is that for humanity to survive this self-inflicted impasse, it is of the essence not to miss the point of no return. And judging from the accumulating evidence, such time might be only a few short decades away.

So, the real question is: are we capable of the foresight essential for our continued life on this planet?


Ivan Brezovic Mlinaric
Halfway House

Letter in Business Day, RSA.


The crux of the issue is surely not just having the foresight of impending disaster, but the courage to take tough decisions resulting in action by the governments running the planet.

Those in power, have far too much money and power to lose to possess any genuine desire to "bring the party to a close" and need to be removed from power to be replaced by better, truer men and women.

If economic growth is carefully driven by a new breed of leader following policies adhering to sustainable utilisation of resources and the speedy development of new clean energy technologies, then we can defeat Global Warming and the unimaginable consequences of climate change.

It will take action from grass-roots level upwards, to ensure that a new understanding is shared by all the people on the planet insisting that the political will, even more, the absolute obligation of world governments is formulated so as to set aside short-term over-consumption and herald an epoch of sustainable co-existence.

How do we find such people with the moral strength and integrity to lead us?

How do we oust often corrupt and out of touch government officials?

How do we start the process of eradicating over-consumption?

The latter must be through example in our daily lives, each one of us.

www.reduceco2.co.uk is a good place to start to determine how we can influence those around us each day.

As for the other two, suggestions would be gratefully received.