Hug a Tree not a Human

Juliette Jowitt's Observer article on population growth (and its linkage to climate change) got a reassuringly humanitarian response on the Observer's letters page yesterday. Colin Wells from Leicestershire submitted this cherry missive:

An article in the New Scientist has recently examined what would happen if all human life disappeared from Earth. It concluded that recovery of threatened
habitats and species would occur quite quickly. This is actually happening
in the area contaminated by the nuclear reactor meltdown at Chernobyl in
1986.

My guess is that people won't opt for the logical solution to the climate change threat, so it's roll on the bird flu pandemic - that'll sort it out!

Great! Mr Wells sounds positively gladdened by such a prospect. Forget fining people for failure to recycle their rubbish, just threaten them with a deadly virus...that will convince them of the righteousness of our cause!

Paul Butler from Gwynedd is not so fond of the Green Lobby and begins his letter:

Many thanks for allowing Juliette Jowitt to highlight the true environmental
cost of having children. I find it particularly annoying when people such as
myself are criticised because they live in single accommodation.

Mr Butler argues that his carbon footprint is lower because of his choice to remain childless and concludes:

It seems very strange to me that my attempt to help save resources by not
bringing any more people into the world has become a stick for the green lobby
to beat me with.

Aaah, the old romantic, you can just imagine the scene..."listen daaahling, I ain't getting shacked up with you cos' that will lead to an extra burden on the world's dwindling resources and that just ain't fly..."

I'm no climate change denier (I recycle my beer cans) but if the sentiments of Mr Bell and Mr Butler are the way in which the environment debate is going to be couched then Cristina Odone might be right in surmising that the world we can look forward to living in will be 'a green and unpleasant land'.