Dear Sir/Madam,

It is encouraging to learn that the Queen and Prince Charles are so concerned about the effects man's activities are having on our planet, its ecosystems, climate, and ultimately its ability to continue supporting us (Queen backs fight on global warming).

I do not doubt their sincerity, which makes their stance all the more interesting, since their lifestyles are even less sustainable than most.

When just a few (million) people owned cars and jetted about the world it was not a problem - our planet could just shrug it off. But nowadays many 100's of millions of people own cars and jet about the world. Soon it will be billions.

This is the principal and root cause of the Problem we face, but have yet to face up to: an ever increasing number of people placing an ever increasing drain and strain on our planet's limited resources and carrying capacity (see The straw(s) that broke the camel's back).

Why aren't we facing up to it?

Because, as individuals and as a society, we are still dominated by our "more animal than human " nature - far more than we realise or are prepared to admit.

Thus, we remain in denial of the fact that we are quite literally "plundering " our planet. We are not behaving any worse than we did in the past, but the massive increase in human numbers and the technology at our disposal have magnified our impact on the planet, so as now to pose a dire threat, if not to ourselves (the over 50's), certainly to today's children and coming generations.

Our "more animal than human " nature has always driven men to seek power and material wealth - something in which royalty, over the centuries, have generally excelled. But as ever more people seek more and more material wealth we are fast approaching the limits of what our planet, Spaceship Earth, can sustain. It is already causing climate change - and that is just the beginning.

We have all been brought up to believe that poverty and the poor are the world's biggest problem.  Of course, they are a problem, but in fact, the RICH are a far bigger problem - not simply because they (or "we", depending on one's perspective) ) place a far greater per capita drain and strain on Earth's limited resources and carrying capacity than the poor do, but far more importantly, because they ("we") act as role models, whose extravagantly materialistic lifestyles billions of others are now seeking to emulate.

We are all responsible for the well-being of our children and coming generations, but the rich and powerful more so than most.

This responsibility cannot be exercised as it has been hitherto, by giving generously of one's time and money to good causes. It requires an example to be set for a sustainable, far less materialistic way of life, and for the values, attitudes and aspirations that might underlie it.

What did Jesus say about the prospects for rich people getting to heaven . . . ? 

I am much more concerned about us achieving sustainability on Earth. Simply giving one's money to the poor will not help, but setting a living example of sustainable values, attitudes and aspirations will.