November 19, 2009 at 06:10 PM
Pioneering, courageous, far-sighted, controversial, explanatory, optimistic. But enough about me… what did Mr Porritt have to say on Monday night, at the Hadyn Ellis Distinguished Lecture in
He cited the influential book that informed some of his later thinking; Eric From’s “To Have or To Be”. I will order it on the weekend.
And he described the principles he feels need to be in place for mankind to reverse the dangerous cycle it as got itself into. During the season of the disaster movie, 2012, his catastrophe hopes were received more flippantly than perhaps he really intends them to be.
He pleads for greater focus among the investment and policy making communities on efficiency. He admires the US Energy Secretary for his knowledge and prioritisation of the subject and laments the UK Government’s lack of attention in this vital area. He mentioned ground-breaking work being done in the area of property construction – zero-carbon, social housing provision. Admirable. He demands that we all espouse the concept of sufficiency. He would advocate taxes to drive this and holds up the consumer society to us, the consumer, as the source of the vortex of the spiral (my words, not his). And he beseeches us to empathise with the human race, to try to make us feel what the actions or lack of them of the lucky billion is doing to the bottom six billion. (Vegetarian) food for thought. Well done to Cardiff Uni and the Waterloo Foundation for facilitating the programme of annual lectures. Last year, Mary Robinson; next year, Sir Ranulph Fiennes.
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