Sir, – In your Editorial (December 31st) you included the vaguely optimistic sentence “Indeed, there are sound reasons for believing that, if we can start to deal with the underlying problems, our societies will be healthier, more humane and more sustainable than they were before the crisis”.
It is difficult to believe that your prognostications, even for as short a period as one year, are relevant if you fail to mention our accelerating environmental deterioration, climatic warming and the endless consumption and waste associated with a globalised world. Nor can you ignore the likely effect of another 80 million souls expected in 2012 on the carbon “footprint”
It is quite clear that the problems you do put forward are more the consequence than the cause of the current crisis. Until our world leaders face up to the realities of waste, the protection of the environment and the burgeoning human population, can we be sure to resolve the uncertainties which today face humanity and the world. – Yours, etc,