Still on the subject of sustainability - and the concomitant prospects of human survival in the 21 Century:

How can we hope to achieve sustainability so long as "success" is almost invariably equated with material wealth, and the media - the Telegraph included - never tires of reinforcing this fatal attitude?

How often have I read the lines: "Bill Gates, the world's richest (and most successful) man. . ."?

How are the majority of us - those who dispose over between something less than the average to say twice the average wage - supposed to feel and react to the necessity of changing to sustainable lifestyles, when the media is constantly presenting us with examples of the wealthy and "successful", compared with whom most of us live very undemanding lives indeed in respect to the consumption of non-renewable resources and how much strain we individually place on the planets life-supporting ecosystems?

Why should comfortably-off Mr Average consider giving up, driving less, or sharing his VW Golf, or cutting out one of his twice yearly flight to Ibiza, when rich Mr Successful drives two Ferraris, has  another 5 cars at his garage in Harrow plus 5 more in Los Angeles, spends half of his time flying around the world, and yet is held up for his success, praised and admired in the media to boot?

What I wish to point out is that the roots on non-sustainability go very deep. When we eventually seriously start to dig them out, as to survive we must, we are going to find it a lot more difficult than we anticipated.