James Lovelock, the planetary scientist famous for his Gaia Theory, writes in today's Independent of his belief that it is already too late to divert an environmental catastrophe, one which will see much of human civilisation destroyed.
Fearing it too late to be green, he instead suggests communities plan for survival in a world reminiscent of "Mad Max", with limited resources ruled by violent warlords: "We have to keep in mind the awesome pace of change and realise how little time is left to act, and then each community and nation must find the best use of the resources they have to sustain civilisation for as long as they can."
He suggests we should be writing a practical guidebook printed on long lasting paper containing "the basic accumulated scientific knowledge of humanity." He may be on to something, especially since there are many who will gleefully promote this idea - since it serves their own purposes; e.g. "the rapture" - giving it a life of its own. The "Mad Max" future is not too implausible, if one takes the practices of peoples living in remote and resource-poor regions as an example - an economy driven by the crafting of parts and synthesis of fuels for the machinery of a bygone age.
