Andrew Marr et al. at Sunday AM,

 

What I've been hearing lately about Charles Kennedy's alcohol addiction and how it is normal for addicts to continue over an extended period of time in a state of complete or partial denial, both to themselves and to those around them, has caused a light to come on and reveal a terrifying reality:

We all (our whole society and civilisation) are in a state of "collective (mutually reinforcing) denial " in respect to our addiction to fossil fuels, a growth-dependent economy and the grossly materialistic lifestyles it engenders.

It's an addiction that on our finite and vulnerable planet is utterly unsustainable and taking us headlong towards global catastrophe.

Unless we come out of denial completely and face up to the fact that WE have a PROBLEM, our children and grandchildren are never going to forgive us - assuming, that is, some survive.

You think I'm greatly exaggerating and overdramatising the situation. Of course you do - that is how we keep ourselves in denial . . .