Although more than two weeks have passed, I'm still wondering who it was among your number who penned the response in Comment and Opinion to the Archbishop of Canterbury's New Year's Message (Don't blame Linus, 1 January 2001;  Western world's greed threatens planet's survival, says Carey,  January 2001; The Archbishop of Canterbury’s New Year Message). 

I have written to you before, expressing an attitude very similar to that of Dr Carey's, comparing our planet with a spaceship - which, in a very real sense, it is. The opinion expressed against the insight shown by the Archbishop in his New Year Message is not only foolish, but will have dire consequences for Linus and all our grandchildren. 

Imagine if astronauts under the stress of a long journey to Mars were to start behaving foolishly, neglecting to give absolute priority to the maintenance of their spacecraft's life-support systems . . . . !

Yet this is exactly how we are behaving on our planet, Spaceship Earth. 

Dr Carey may or may not "understand the most basic economics", but unlike your commentator he seems to realise that our planet, with its finite resources and limited carrying capacity, cannot cope for much longer with the non-sustainable lifestyles currently being pursued and encouraged.

Do you really believe that "the more Linus consumes, the more will be produced and the richer and better fed everyone will become"? 

I can see what a wonderfully convenient, and irresistibly seductive attitude it is for the wealthy to have: the more they consume and indulge themselves, the more they are helping everyone else!  However, it is based on the erroneous assumption that the Earth has inexhaustible resources and an infinite carrying capacity. 

By the time he is 30 little Linus will be just one of 8 - 10 billion people inhabiting our planet, most of them wanting and striving to live as only the wealthy do now. 

Yet with only a fraction of the world's population so far participating in wealthy lifestyles, the Earth's life-supporting ecosystems are already groaning under the strain that our extravagant and unrestrained demands are placing on them.

Your commentary reflects the conventional economic wisdom that we continue to pursue and which is leading us towards the biggest catastrophe in human history. 

One day it may well have the dubious distinction of being known to every school child as one of the most lucid expressions of the attitude and blindness that threatened to bring mankind to the brink of extinction.