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To:
letters@independent.co.uk |
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Dear
Sir/Madam,
I feel that I,
and the rest
of my
generation, owe
14-year old
Isabelle
Ellis-Cockcroft
an apology (Letter).
But how do you
apologise to a
child for
spoiling and
wrecking their
planet, and
their future?
Just saying
sorry seems a
little
inadequate.
After reading
James
Lovelock's
opinion in
Tuesday's
Independent
that we have
passed the
point of no
return in
respect to
global warming
and need to
prepare
ourselves for
the end of
civilisation,
I find it
incomprehendable
that he
continues to
advocate the
large-scale
use of nuclear
energy. Who's
going to take
care of the
old reactors
and the
radioactive
waste if
civilisation
has gone? Not
only will we
have plundered
and spoiled
their planet,
we will have
left it cursed
for thousands
of years to
come, littered
with the most
deadly and
persistent
poisons.
Perhaps we
should all
take a rope
and hang
ourselves. But
no, we haven't
got the
stomach for
that, nor for
making the
radical
changes to our
economy and
way of life
necessary for
sustainability.
All we can do
is continue to
indulge
ourselves,
like an
alcoholic
drowning his
sorrows and
regrets by
taking yet
another swig
from the
bottle.
In fact, that
describes our
situation
pretty well:
addicted to a
growth-dependent
economy and
grossly
materialistic
lifestyles
(both rooted
on our animal
nature) that
are
fundamentally
unsustainable
and taking us
towards global
catastrophe.
If we were to
admit it and
face up to our
"addiction
problem ",
perhaps, just
perhaps, we
could still do
something
about it.
Yours
sincerely
Roger Hicks
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