Dear Editor,
I read your report on the rapidly melting Arctic (GW Cover Story 30.12.2016) and you comment on what should be done (page 22) and, yes, the situation is grim with both the USA and Russia preparing to exploit the ice-free Arctic for minerals (oil and gas) and shipping.
You mention a few things that could be done (e.g. reducing "soot" and flaring methane) but surely this is far from adequate?
For me the litmus test lies with our economies and our societies: Can we really not either dramatically reduce or (even better) completely do without ... private cars, cheap flights, massively extended shipping and trucking routes, decadent levels of heating and air-conditioning, the sourcing of materials (e.g. palm-oil and animal-feed) from incredibly damaging operations which involve the widespread destruction of rain-forest (the planet's lungs) ... and numerous other damaging and polluting activities?
Over the Christmas period I looked around at the products on offer and at the advertising that sought to peddle those wares and was (once again) deeply shocked: Our rampant consumerism (enshrined in our sacred "Western Values") has become a rapacious monster which is steadily devastating the planet. Only when we truly recognise this will we stand any chance of avoiding Armageddon.
Regards
