ABSTRACT
Books come and go. Indeed, one of the problems of writing about contemporary issues is that the world changes rapidly. It is good to remind oneself that, to a humble mayfly, a lifetime lasts a day. For a politician, a week can seem like a lifetime. At the time of writing (2007) society is pondering its own extinction, and it is comforting to know that some people have been paying attention. Species are disappearing at between 100 and 1,000 times the ‘background’ levels found in fossils. The earth’s atmosphere has the largest hole in the ozone layer ever recorded, and a carbon dioxide level that has not been so high for 650,000 years or more. It is possible, although not certain, that humans have caused most of the problem. The good news is that the sun should last for up to 5 billion years. One would hope, therefore, that very long-term thinking would be the main priority for governments and educators. Until now, this has been far from the case. Governments have remained more reactive than visionary. Despite the recent fashion for solar panels and bicycles, politics remains stubbornly humanistic, individual-centred, competitive, growthorientated, and out of touch with the eco-system that supports our existence. Many of our most noble endeavours are therefore doomed by ignorance, short-sightedness, and a woeful lack of imagination. Every so often we have a moment of brilliant collective insight, but this seldom lasts long. The current panic over environmental issues is reminiscent of the oil crisis of 1973. In the UK, with political uncertainty caused by rising fuel prices we suddenly became acutely aware of our environmental predicament. This was an unusual moment that soon ended with a new agreement with the main oil producing countries,
and it was ‘business as usual’. Recently, the UK government agreed to create a bill on climate change. Many well-informed citizens feel that this decision is seriously overdue. After all, meteorologists and ecologists have long been warning us that we cannot continue to live in the way we do. The change is welcome, but why has it taken so long to arrive? One recent factor was the government-sponsored Stern Report, (31st October, 2006), which had more effect than many previous recommendations by scientists. How did Mr Stern succeed where the experts failed? The short answer is that he is an economist, and therefore speaks in a restricted language that makes sense to governments. In short, political discourse seems to have no grasp of events beyond the shortterm logic of economic forces. This is why our leaders find it so difficult to be honest with voters.
