Sir, – Before Joseph Curtin (Letters, March 31st) has us thinking that all is rosy in nature's garden, I would like to point out a few things.
The air we breathe is full of particulates and other pollutants (see latest smog levels in Paris and major Chinese cities), the earth is a landfill site, our seas and oceans full of sewage and the space in which we orbit, basically, a junk yard.
We are de-foresting the Amazon rainforests and the last time the biodiversity of species was so low was following the meteor strike which wiped out the dinosaurs.
Despite that, all is well according to Joseph Curtin. We just have to push the cultural and behavioural buttons.
China is a prime example. Before 2000 the car population in China was less than five million. Most people travelled by bicycle in the cities. The population of cars is now at over 80 million. And the result? All the major cities have smog levels to rival that of California of the 1970s.
That could have been – and was – predicted by research. Why was nothing done? Profit before planet.
The same argument applies to the construction of coal powered – and not carbon neutral – electricity-generating power stations in China.
We have heard it all before Mr Curtin. Overcoming cultural and behavioural barriers isn’t happening anytime soon. Especially when the oil industry lobby is so powerful.
And as long as the greed culture is prevailing, Gaia is always going to be ailing. – Yours, etc, AUSTIN HYLAND Plaisance du Touch, France.