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To: nicholas@nytimes.com Re: Global warming is just a symptom of an underlying malady Date: Saturday, 9 April 05 |
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Dear Nicholas (Mr
Kristof),
The biggest threat we
face is not global warming (as
you suggest in today's NYT,
"Nuks
are Green"), which -
notwithstanding its
seriousness - is just one
symptom of an underlying malady:
a growth-dependent economy and
grossly materialistic
lifestyles rooted in
man's "more animal
than human " nature,
thus making them fundamentally
non-sustainable on a planet
with approaching 7 billion
inhabitants, but limited
resources and a finite
carrying capacity.
In view of what
Charles Darwin taught us about
our animal origins, this
should not surprise us; but
just like Christian
fundamentalists, we are
refusing to face up to it.
Why? Because it also undermines many of OUR core beliefs; not religious, but religiously held, relating to the economy, our way of life and material aspirations. There are in fact more and stronger forces keeping us from facing up to the truth than there are keeping Christian fundamentalists from doing so. But if we want our children and coming generations to have any kind of a future, that is what we have to do. And to be quick about it. Yours sincerely Roger Hicks P.S. Nuclear energy is not Green, but much too dangerous in the hands of Earth's Greatest Ape, who prematurely named himself Homo sapiens, when Homo stupidus economicus would have been far more appropriate.
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