You mistake my quiet confidence for hubris, Ho Hum :-)

I agree that the current direction and the assumptions of the global growth economy are destructive and utterly unsustainable. We must stop. We *will* stop, because we will run out of fuel and food. If we stop before that, it will be nicer for everyone.

Dire predictions of imminent doom-and-gloom usually prove too pessimistic; I think the 'nice' outcome is actually a likely one. The present unsustainable economy could conceivably make a soft(ish) landing instead of crashing horribly.

There's a chance that management of our land use will improve only after it gets a lot worse and a lot more destructive. But I am confident that it will improve in the end. I believe the human race will prove, at best, to be its own saviour and, at worst, a phoenix.

The odd earthquake, tsunami, flood or hurricane is not something we will ever be able to do much to prevent. It *is* something we could prevent from doing too much damage to people, if only we valued the people in question.

The human-caused microbiological disasters you adduce are another category and are likely to cause a lot of new problems. (Margaret Attwood's 2004 novel _Oryx and Crake_ was a cute apocalyptic riff on this theme). Yet even these are not likely to destroy the biosphere or the human race. Gaia and humanity alike are resilient; you would have to try very hard to eliminate either.

You & James Lovelock can think of these problems as "Gaia's revenge" if you like, but I see them more like "blowback" by analogy with the fire of Islamism, supported by France and the UK against the respective nationalisms of greater India, Arabia and Africa from the 1930s to the 1960s, the US against the USSR in the 1980s and by Israel against the PLO in the 1990s. Inevitably it burned the Western powers that fanned it, along with a lot of innocents. Starve such messy fires of fuel with prophylaxis, hygiene and education, and they will eventually burn themselves out.

"Unfortunately and dreadfully the scenarios envisioned by Lovelock, the "inventor" of the Gaia hypothesis will most probably come true."
Well maybe if you wait long enough...

"With the wall to wall propaganda of fear via the so called war on terror."
And don't forget Global Warming.

"What about the Tsunami that killed 300,000 people?"
What about it? I hope you're not suggesting humans had a hand in it?

"I believe the human race will prove, at best, to be its own saviour and, at worst, a phoenix."
Have to agree with you there.

I don't know where I heard it but it seems that many people turn into socialist only after making their money as a capitalist. This certainly describes many of our GW High Priests and film makers. Environmentalism makes many have not dealt with the morally corrupt heart feel a bit better.

I agree with Xoddam that to 'Starve such messy fires of fuel with prophylaxis, hygiene and education, and they will eventually burn themselves out.'

Howard, Bush, Mugabe, Putin and Castro are on their way out. If the successors to these and other fear mongers are good fire fighters and can tap into the good will of the wold's masses, particularly the youth, by directing a united effort at solving the real issues, then the human race does have a second chance.

“Nothing is more likely to silence the enthusiastic environmentalist than being called racist by questioning the growth and consumption of other, sometimes poorer, countries. The cry, in part justified, is that wealthy nations have done just this and benefited greatly, so why can’t the rest of humanity?”

The UN should start a system of ecological taxation on the basis of quantity of CO 2 produced per head. Heads of states like the USA and Australia which did not ratify the Kyoto Protocol should be brought before the International Court of Justice to answer charges and if need be, fined or punished for polluting the earth.

It makes sense for developed countries to pay a Green Tax to developing countries e.g. Indonesia, Brazil, etc for keeping their forests or jungles in their natural state and avoid countries CO 2 build-up.

Perhaps Michael Fendley, truly can "dispose of pollutants, like CO2" by breathing over some roses and carnations who would conveniently just love him. .... but that would sinfully be connecting with nature.