KEVIN SWEENEY,
Sir, - According to Drapier (The Irish Times, May 25th), the Green party's "economic policies remain something of a mystery"; he further suggests that these mysterious policies "will have to undergo the same makeover as their internal political structures".
In the recent election campaign, the Greens were the only party reminding us that global oil reserves are rapidly diminishing. Globally, we consume around 27 billion barrels of oil a year; we add less than seven billion barrels to proven reserves.
Consumption has been outstripping discovery since the 1970s. Oil is a critical commodity, providing around 40 per cent of global energy and over 90 per cent of transport fuel.
Many distinguished geologists with a lifetime of experience in the oil industry are telling us that global oil production must peak some time in the next two decades. This entirely predictable event will be one of the major turning points in human history. No intelligent person will argue that finite oil reserves are going to last forever, yet this unspoken assumption is inherent in the economic policies of all parties, apart from the Greens.
There is nothing mysterious about Green economic policy; it takes account of diminishing oil reserves and the finite nature of our planet. The mystery is that intelligent people such as Drapier, and others in the political establishment, continue to listen to flat-earth economists who believe that the laws of physics do not apply to the economy.
If Drapier wants to decipherer the mystery of Green economics, he should acquaint himself with the second law of thermodynamics and its implications for the global economy. - Yours, etc.,
KEVIN SWEENEY,
Kilnaleck,
Co Cavan.