Madam, - Following the Stern report of last October and now the UN report on climate change (The Irish Times, February 3rd), it is hard to deny that the future of life on this planet is in danger.
While there are various aspects of human activity contributing to this crisis, there is one driving force behind them all - and that is Western consumerism. The largely unregulated industrial revolution currently taking hold of India and China aims to feed the insatiable Western appetite for cheap consumer items.
US President George W. Bush has finally recognised the fact of global warming yet his recent "State of the Union" speech gave no indication that he was prepared to make the US public curb its energy usage. There was no mention, for example, of getting US auto manufacturers to increase the fuel efficiency of cars in line with the rest of the world. He has displayed the same cowardice about hard decisions as politicians in Western Europe. There is still a reluctance to take on board the bleak findings of the Stern report for fear of losing votes.
People must take responsibility for their own lifestyles if we are collectively to address climate change.But to effect a cultural shift in Western behaviour we must pass laws to counter the natural human instinct to seek the easy way of life.
There are hard choices ahead and we need politicians with the courage to make them. - Yours, etc,
BARRY WALSH,
Church Road,
Blackrock,
Cork.
Madam, - Now that the dust is starting to settle on the warnings of the inter-government panel on climate change, be prepared for the usual rhetoric from politicians promising that they will do something urgently about this immense threat to humankind's existence. But, if history repeats itself as usual on such pressing global matters, very little will happen.
Less than $400 million has been received from governments to combat bird flu, out of $2,000 million pledged in 2005. Yet global warming and avian flu could inflict more destruction on humankind than all military conflicts put together.
Therefore, is it not time that the near $1 trillion that the world's governments spend on increased armaments yearly was reallocated to the matters that really count for human existence and not to the folly of pandering to the destructive forces that will in due course lead to our inevitable extinction? - Yours, etc,
Dr DAVID HILL,
Chief Executive,
World Innovation Foundation,
Bern,
Switzerland.