Carbon is for all of us

The common thread, the unifying element is carbon: it is ignorant to talk about a carbon-free economy. It is not sinful or stupid to use some solar energy from the food we eat, or some other short-term stored solar energy, such as wood, or even some long-term stored solar energy, such as oil or coal.

It is nonsense to suggest, as Tim Flannery does in Weather Makers, that oil and coal are "rascally fuel" and that we are "pilfering the buried bounty of this alien world".

As with so many processes and activities, it is vital to understand and measure the effects: if intrinsically bad, we ban them. But in other cases, as with oxidising to produce carbon dioxide, it is the rate and balance that matters, so we must regulate them, manage to a balanced, sustainable level.

Sustainability is not about the arrival of any one system: it is about identifying problems, researching solutions and adopting them.

This particular problem - excessively fast oxidation of carbon to form too much carbon dioxide - connects everyone through the atmosphere. Perhaps, just as carbon is the life thread on the planet, this will be the cause that binds all humankind. Perhaps the world is one or none.