[petermcgain]

Yes, the point is made very convincingly by Rosestones that with the system of government in vogue at the moment there are few politicians who would be prepared to sacrifice power (can feel a pun about the reduction of power coming on here!) even over such an enormous issue. There is something fundementally unfortunate in the human psyche in that most of us are acquisitive, we WANT the gadgets that a capitalist society dangles in front of us, we WANT to travel (and when flights are cheap it's difficult to avoid jumping on a plane), we WANT a comfortable lifestyle, it's invariably pleasanter to drive in one's own car rather than use public transport. And although, as we know, the vast weight of scientific evidence suggests we are heading towards a catastrophe, governments are ultimately little more than manifestations of human greed and the I'm allright Jack attitude.

My wife and I share a little used car with a friend, we live on an organic community with 50 others, rearing animals for meat and dairy (though I'm vegetarian), we grow most of our own vegetables and TRY to life a relatively simple lifestyle. We've agreed never to fly again (we're taking the Trans-Siberian railway to visit our daughter in Japan next year, rather than fly - but I bet that uses a lot of fuel too) and use our bikes and the local bus whenever possible.

Do we despair about the future and just enjoy life for the moment, do we trust to future technology that our very consumerist lifestyle can continue? Trying to live a simpler life in the hope that everyone else will too, isn't difficult, except when I turn on the TV (yes, we've got one of them) and make the mistake of watching Jeremy Clarkson for a few minutes and wearily realise how our mindset is out of synch with so many others. I'm afraid of sounding far more self righteous than I feel ....I just hope my grownup daughters, and as yet unborn grandchildren, will not curse us for our wilful neglect of the planet.