To: politics.editor@guardianunlimited.co.uk
Re: Economy and Ecology: a serious case of confused priorities

Date: Sunday 7 November 04

The problem with one's own mistakes is that the bigger they are the more difficult it is to recognise them. And when almost everyone else is also making the same mistake it is virtually impossible to recognise (see The Insanities of Normality).

By far the biggest collective mistake we are making is giving a higher priority to the economy (the household of man) than to ecology (the household of our planet). It is a mistake so grave that, unless recognised and corrected, will lead to the greatest catastrophe in human history, perhaps even to the extinction of our species.

Like all animals, we are programmed and conditioned to struggle for survival and advantage in the natural environment; with the advent of civilisation this same programming and conditioning has been increasingly focused on the artificial socio-economic environment thus created. We are now so preoccupied with the latter that it has made us all but blind to the fact that we are still ultimately and absolutely dependent on our natural environment.

In pursuit of survival and advantage in our socio-economic environment (as individuals, families, companies, even governments), which largely boils down to making money, we are overlooking that we are quite literally plundering our planet.

The implications for our economy and way of life are profound. But if we don't quickly come out of denial and face up to them, we (i.e. our children and coming generations) are going to be in very serious trouble.