Prior to the Rio+20 ‘Earth Summit’ in June I sent in a ‘Reply’ to a Guardian Weekly piece by John Vidal with a lead-in as follows;

“Following Rio 1992 there has been four doublings: of world population, of made-up money in circulation, of carbon dioxide emissions, and a doubling of the mid-point temperature rise. Net result: fiscal chaos, population surge, wasteful excess and irreversible climate change.”

Later, I outlined the ‘three core fundamentals’ which would not, and did not, appear in the Earth Summit declaration.

“First, to create a legally binding adherence to environmental justice and the prosecution of ecocide. Not merely scripting treaties, but dealing with environmental criminality at home, and corporate malfeasance abroad, with ultimate recourse to an international court of justice.

Second, to recognise that printed money feeds the consumption, that produces the waste, that kills the environment. This calls for action to put a halt to money supply and stabilise the monetary system: a digital gold standard without the gold.

Third, to require nations to ensure, sensitively and slowly, that birthrates are managed down to levels that are eventually below death rates.”

Rounding off.

“It is obvious for a finite planet that there is too much money around, there is too many of us, that we consume and waste to excess, and that previous climate change gatherings have not been to able to correct these failings.”

Thanks, Robert Riddell, comments welcome