I had a mentor in the mining company I worked for, a very smart guy, a bit excentric, with whom I had many interesting conversations. One of his statements when we would discuss the environmental damage our industry caused was, "If people didn't want what we mine, we would not mine it."

We did this. I did my part. Still doing it. I accept responsibility.

Carbon capture will not fix it. We'd have to pull out carbon at the same rate we put it in just to break even. Not possible. Sure, try, why not? But we'd need 200 years of pulling more carbon out than we put in.

I just don't see how that is possible.

From the year I was born, there are now almost three times as many people in this country, on this planet. They all want stuff. Like ER, I always thought we'd find a way to get our energy and stuff from outside the planet.

I was naive.

Instead we spent our resources finding ways to kill each other. Imagine if instead of bombs we'd invested in fusion power, always 30 years away.

Apologies for my cynical mood, but it is not just the oil companies, or the mining companies, or the military industrial complex.

It's us.