Our appetite for destruction will starve us of a future

THE day before 9/11, a satellite photograph of the United States showed the country covered by a white grid. Straight lines going up. Straight lines going across.

Straight lines clustered thickly over cities such as Washington, New York and Atlanta. Straight lines more sparsely distributed over less populated states. Straight lines, thin and sharp. Straight lines swelling and going fuzzy. Jet-trails, every one of them, tracing the flight path of a passenger jet.

Two days later, the satellite view showed the continent clear and visible. No grid. No planes in the sky, creating jet trails. With one single solitary exception. A lone trail going up the east coast: Air Force One, taking President George W Bush to New York.