Human population

We are already using oils, gas, and coal at a faster rate than the world can support

Bob Rainbow's views are the same as the Copenhagen Summit, they refused to talk about the root cause of what we are doing to the earth. The human population is out of control for what the earth can support.

Many years ago Bob Geldof highlighted the starvation in Ethiopia with pictures on our news and the launch of a huge relief effort in "Feed the World". We were told that when the rains failed, Ethiopia could not support their population of 33.5 million. Many of us saw their plight and dug deeply in our pockets to help. There was plenty of money to assist in the development of "intermediate technology" Bob Rainbow calls for.

Now, 25 years later we are told that Ethiopia is starving again. That is not much of a surprise because the population has risen to 78 million. No country has ever been able to double its assets in 25 years to even keep pace with its own living standards. For every road, school, medical facility, and field to grow food that existed 25 years ago had to be created again. Not a hope. Birth control would have been far better.

We are already using oils, gas, and coal at a faster rate than the world can support. The destruction of forest goes on at such a fast pace and the land is decaying with modern farming methods which is the only way to grow increased food for the expanding population.

The next big problem is water. As weather changes we see droughts in important food growing areas and this will have a huge impact. There is no organisation in the World that can guide us for the future as was seen at Copenhagan and Mexico.

A good example of bad policy is our Wind Turbine building and carbon price floor. This is adding an extra layer of electricity generation and all its costs to the price of electricity and so destroying further our wealth creating industrial base. I understand we have slipped from 4th to 10th industrial nation and are shortly to be overtaken by Argentina, so much for our increase of population needed to work in this country, what are they doing? They are not wealth creating.

It is important that engineers have their say in this country but we are not heard enough to deflect the stupidities of our Politicians over the last 20 years. What did the House of Lords say about renewables - there is no technical barrier it is only a question of money.

Mike Travers, Fife

Next letter: Geothermal is the answer