Sir, – How apt it was that in the week Jeff Bezos finally made it into orbit we saw more evidence of the ominous future ahead for humanity if we continue to pursue the dysfunctional growth-obsessed economic model which put him there in the first place. The fortune that Mr Bezos has accumulated results from a system which encourages unnecessary consumption and a race to the bottom in employee protections. In addition it has accelerated the destruction of the planet to benefit a short-sighted elite that can afford to live out their deluded fantasies in space.
We are running out of time to preserve a planet that can be inhabited by future generations. Instead of sitting back, slack-jawed in admiration of unaccountable billionaires propelling themselves into the upper atmosphere, we would be better placed asking ourselves, and our elected representatives, how we create a sustainable and equitable global economy that removes any necessity to enter orbit to escape the ravages of the current model. – Yours, etc,
BARRY WALSH,
Blackrock,
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Cork.