The climate crisis is actually a crisis of consumerism.

CHRISTMAS FUELS consumerism. Production lines and shopping centres are waiting for Christmas to arrive. They are seeking greater sales and greater profits this Christmas than last. Christmas fuels consumerism and consumerism fuels global warming. Global warming fuels fear, guilt, doom and gloom. All these acts and feelings are a far cry from Christmas.

Whatever we consume – food, clothes, housing, agriculture, transportation, technology and holidays – is dependent on the continuous use of fossil fuels. Higher living standards, higher economic growth and higher consumption levels have been and still continue to be the unchallenged aspiration of all nations, all governments and all industrial societies.

But the challenge of global warming is slowly bringing about a certain shift in the consciousness of politicians, policy-makers and captains of industry. More and more people are realising that we cannot go on as before: that business as usual is no longer an option. It is clear that while the ice caps of Antarctica are melting and other intricate patterns of nature are being destroyed current energy systems are not sustainable. Even the mainstream media and conservative think tanks are beginning to talk about economy as a subsidiary of ecology.

However, this shift in consciousness is only skin-deep. It is limited to finding alternatives to carbon emissions (which are merely a symptom of the problem rather than the root cause). To treat the symptom policy-makers are looking at bio-fuels instead of fossil fuels. They are looking at technological solutions to find new sources of energy such as solar power, wind power and nuclear power. Their deep desire is to go on consuming as much as we have been, perhaps even more at Christmas time and at all times, but preferably through so-called sustainable sources. David Ehrenfeld in his article is exploding this myth. Ehrenfeld, a US professor of ecology, calls this technological fix “death by friendly fire”. In his view global warming is not an unfortunate occurrence but the inevitable outcome of consumerist culture.

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