The concept of fossil fuels as a generator of energy, even with improved technologies, has to be radically altered or humans will bring about the next great extinction all by themselves, within the next two generations. Industry is investing in alternative technologies, and in more advanced technologies for extraction and refining, but far too little, too late. Generating energy from oil and coal is way too profitable, and the entrenched idea of profits justifying anything and everything is so pervasive as to amount to a kind of mass psychosis. The fact is that we can’t eat, drink or breathe either money or oil, so either we embrace radical change or we die. But we’ll take most other forms of life with us. To make genuine progress on sustainable development, industry needs to look at the bigger picture - to move from having one strategy for “responsible environmental practise” and an- other for “making money.” We urgently need to “move toward an integrated stewardship of resources, ecosystems and communities, and to take responsibility for the impacts of their operations along the entire supply chain - from cradle to grave, from one generation to the next, from one species to another, from one society to another and from one country to another.” (GIN: greeningofindustry.org) Just over 30% of the earth’s population uses 80% of its resources.

Africans eat less than US And EU pets

In 1984 the world was shocked by a famine which claimed nearly one million lives on the Horn of Africa. Meanwhile Europe had a bumper harvest and ample food aid made its way to the struggling African Sahara region. Characteristically, this famine was not brought on by a lack of food, but by poverty and rising food prices which left the poor most vulnerable. This illustrates that even though advances in agricultural practice since the 1960s ensures that food production is keeping pace with modern population growth, food is not spread around evenly like a neatly buttered slice of toast.

Perceptions of nuclear power are influenced by nightmares of mushroom clouds, the spectre of Chernobyl and movies like the China Syndrome where an out-of-control nuclear reactor was boring through the earth’s crust. What is more terrifying is that the power of these misconceptions may destroy the last chance humanity has of saving the Earth from its own excess. This sounds apocalyptic, but before you dismiss it, look at the growing tide of evidence that shows power stations are the greatest cause of global warming. And read The Revenge of Gaia by James Lovelock.

Gaia Enters The Mainstream