Response from Dennis Craney

I am delighted that people take the issues seriously and want to discuss and act on it.

There are (and always have been in environmental matters) two aspects to the discussion: What can I do personally to reduce the impact on climate change etc; and what will be the impacts on me/our society of the changes and what can we do to cope with them.

To put it simply, everyone in Bucketty could be acting sustainably, but it will have zero effect on climate change and peak oil.

That does not mean that we should not be acting sustainably, just that the problems are of enormous scale in physial, social and political terms. Even local political action, which in the past has produced some successes at a community and state level, is a drop in the ocean on this one.

The campaigns on ozone depleting chemicals in the 1980s are the nearest examples we have, and they are, with hindsight, miniscule to what we are now faced with. I retain some hope, but frankly I think humanity is in for a very rough time.

The Club of Rome report "The Limits to Growth (c.1972) got it right in structure, though not necessarily on the specifics. It was heavily criticised at the time by people without the imagination to do some projections. I wish I could shove it down their throats now.

DennisCraney