From Calvin Malham
Gaia Vince’s article on what we might expect to happen “geophysically” as well as socially in the coming decades was sobering but not completely disheartening (28 February, p 28). However, by provisioning for an anticipated population increase to 9 billion people within about 50 years we are ignoring a crucial fact: we don’t have enough resources for the current 6.75 billion people on the planet. Before climate change allows the cultivation of currently deep frozen soils, it would probably be more realistic to cater for a much reduced population of 1 billion, as postulated by James Lovelock. Whether the awful cull of humanity will be imposed by conflict or by “planetary cleansing” regulatory methods remains to be seen.
As well as lagging the loft and switching off the lights, we might be wise to put off having that next child. It could all turn out to be just an awful dream, but in the words of Basil Fawlty, who also oversaw a crazily dysfunctional organisation, “I think we’re stuck with it”.
From Doug Grigg
“Surviving in a warmer world” was a great article. However, I am surprised that a simple rationing system of carbon emissions at user level has not been suggested.
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If the initial ration per head were to be the current average annual usage per head as detailed in “Why bother going green” (17 November 2007, p 34) then the higher users would be restricted. The ration unused by some could be sold to ease the burden on those who could afford to waste energy. Over the years the ration could be reduced steadily until a desired target was reached.
Surely this would be superior to market based systems which involve lots of discussion but little reduction.
Cannonvale, Queensland, Australia
Tim Jackson
The solutions put forward in Gaia Vince’s article are interesting, but omit consideration of timescale. To relocate 9 billion people within 50 years would require continuous global house-building exceeding that of post-war Britain. It seems unlikely that while doing this we could simultaneously produce continent-wide solar energy farms and totally redesign the world’s agriculture.
Interestingly, if the world’s population were to be crammed into the “green zone” of Gaia Vince’s map, the overall population density would be about the same as it presently is in the UK. There is no indication of a need for high-rise cities with complex infrastructure and transport networks. Vast numbers of people arriving in a newly habitable area of Siberian marshland, impoverished by the costs of travel and rehousing, would be likely to only have the resources for a peasant lifestyle.
Haslingden, Lancashire, UK
Newquay, Cornwall, UK
