Humans are remarkably resiliant. I think that science and technology will eventually provide a solution for many of these problems. If ITER is a success then we have the promise of cheap, safe and almost unlimited energy for all.

Change will have to be market-driven though and it may take an environmental catastrophe that wipes out a significant number of people before we finally give up our addictions to things that are bad for the environment. It’s just a shame that we waste so much effort on killing each other in the name of religion and capitalism when there are far more pressing things that need our attention.

I think the problem is that it’s too late and distaster is inevitable. Thing is, if everybody does their bit, it’s only delaying the inevitable thanks to population expansion and so forth. A bleak outlook indeed. Or maybe I’m just being negative today!

Still, we should all try to do our bit, don’t you think? It’s no good just giving up.

Only yesterday, I was in Wilkinson’s and I noticed that they had 99p off energy saving lightbulbs, so I bought five off them for a fiver. What a bargain! Now I can gradually switch our house over to them as the conventional bulbs fail and do a little bit extra to help the environment.

Another thing I do is to unplug our DVD player when it’s not in use, so it doesn’t have its standby light on. Did you know that all those standby lights are responsible for about 10% of a household’s annual electricity consumption? Incredible!

Now if only we could persuade the Americans and developing industrial nations like India and China not to screw up the planet…