A commentary in response to Frants Attorp’s recent article: “Our only hope is to become environmental activists.”

The last thing the world needs is more ill-informed amateur dramatics from unruly mobs of self-styled activists.

Frants Attorp tells us that “global temperatures keep rising in tandem with greenhouse gases,” but fails to present a solution other than that we must “adjust our lifestyle choices”.

He would do well to remember another tandem relationship: per capita GDP is tightly correlated with per capita energy consumption.

The single biggest improvement in living conditions in human history was brought about by the use of cheap, abundant fossil fuels for everything from electricity generation to industrial heat, to transportation, to fertilizers, to pharmaceuticals.

How much economic well-being, now and in the future, is Frants willing to give up?

Around two billion people burn wood and animal dung as their only energy source for heat, light, and cooking. Imagine the effect that has on human health, life expectancy and the environment. We could have given those people electricity instead of........

© Times Colonist