Our world is disintegrating – not developing

AFTER the de facto failure of the recent climate change conference in Copenhagen, I am reminded of Mark Twains dictum: “Everybody talks about the weather, but nobody does anything about it.”

Some years ago Yehudi Menuhin, who made an immense contribution not only to music but also to reconciliation, was asked how he viewed the future: “When I meet a talented young musician I am filled with hope. And then I reflect on the condition of the world and great pessimism comes over me. The catastrophic increase in the human population will lead inevitably to disaster: I pray that a solution will appear before the last tiger, the last whale, becomes extinct. That solution may be war or disease: preferably the latter, for war will destroy the earth: disease will make it fruitful.” In 2007, our own distinguished meteorologist, the late Dr Brendan McWilliams, wrote: “All the indications are that the world will fail in its struggle against global warming.”

My own feeling is that many of us are unaware of how grave the situation has become. We speak of “the developing world” in regions of which the population is doubling every 20 years. In spite of massive aid, poverty, famine, disease and misery are as widespread as ever and natural reserves are being plundered. Far from developing, it seems to me “the disintegrating world” is a more appropriate expression.