Give me facts before passion

BOB Brown’s article was a powerful piece of personal rhetoric which said more about Bob Brown and Bob’s passion than it did about the reasons for his alarm (Talking Point, May 20). It would not convince me. But there are facts that would. Seven million hectares of forest are lost annually. Populations of wild animals have halved since 1970. Only five times in this planet’s long, long history has so much diversity been lost so quickly. The last was when a meteor wiped the dinosaurs out. They had lasted 160 million years. Homo Sapiens has been here for a mere 200,000 years.

Are we well on the way to self-extinction? Yes, Bob, it is our great God Growth. It is hyper-consumerism, but give an example! Look in any op shop and you will find shelves packed with near-new toys, cast off in favour of the latest retail trick. Gone the generations when a small number of toys were loved and treasured as our travelling companions throughout those early years and welcome to our new generations of hyper-consumers.

According to a recent Yale study, we have at the present rate of deforestation 300 years until we run out of trees. Will we change our tack and stand up to the growth gurus or will our species choose to perish early and give to this beautiful, blue planet, once more, a fresh start?

Kate McQuaid

Moonah