To: politics.editor@guardianunlimited.co.uk
Re: A Nobel Prize for madness: "Forget climate change" and surrender to the "Insanities of Normality"
Date: Thursday 21 October 04

Dear Sir/Madam,

 

Forget climate change, that's the least of our worries, say Nobel winners.

 

Reading the above article in yesterday's (Thursday's) Guardian sent a shudder down my spine. 

 

How, I asked myself, can anyone - let alone not just one, but three Nobel Prize winners - be so blind and stupid as not to recognise that climate change and the whole issue of sustainability - of which it is just a part - are not the most important problem facing mankind?

 

I'd like to point out just what an important question this is, and that the answer to it is central to mankind's future on this, our large and bountiful, but nevertheless, finite and vulnerable planet.

 

We do not need to look back far in history for tragic examples of the same, or very similar, kinds of blindness and stupidity. With the benefit of hindsight, of course, we are all so much wiser now, but 70 years ago there were very many people (Nobel Prize winners among them) who failed to recognise the madness, either of Nazism or, especially, of Soviet Communism (Stalinism).

 

Could we ever succumb to such madness again?

 

The truth is that we already have, but like our parents and grandparents before us, we do not recognise it. In 70 years time (probably a lot sooner) it will be recognised, but too late, the damage will have been done, and not just millions, but 100's of millions, probably billions, will perish. You think I'm being alarmist? I wish I were.

 

We are quite literally plundering our planet, the consequences of which cannot be other than catastrophic. But we are largely in denial of it (because our economy and lifestyles - actual or aspired to - depend on it). Even those who think they recognise the importance of sustainability do not grasp the magnitude and urgency of the "Problem". Some who do, assume that there is nothing that can be done to prevent the approaching catastrophe. They may be right. But I think that we - those of us who have had it so good for the past 30, 40, 50 years or so - owe it to our children and coming generations to at least TRY to prevent it. Even if we cannot, we might at least hope to reduce its severity and improve their prospects for survival and eventual recovery.

 

How can we be so blind? Because the "insanities of normality " ARE very difficult (for most people, impossible) to see.

 

Economists make a fundamental error (not least, because they are "economists ") when they give economics (the household of man) priority over ecology (the household of our planet). They "logically " assume that because protecting the environment costs money, the economy, which generates the money, must be the more important. 

 

How can so many clever and eminent people make such an elementary mistake? Because, like most people, they are unable to recognise the "insanities of normality ". AND because they have the intelligence and intellectual skills to successfully rationalise (to themselves and others) their irrational treatment of the facts (e.g. that our growth-dependent economy and materialistic lifestyles are fundamentally non-sustainable on a finite planet which will soon have 7-9 billion human inhabitants, all wanting to be car owners, frequent flyers, etc. . . . ).

 

If you think that I just might be talking a little "uncommon sense ", please take a look at my homepage at www.spaceship-earth.org, where I go into the matter in more depth, and am working (however inadequately) on a solution.