Not all 600 letters are ‘about’ global warming, though the vast majority are. What possesses an otherwise sane individual to spend around 20 minutes, between teeth cleaning and catching the morning train to ‘pen’ a letter that in most cases, just one person will read? It’s simple: I rinse my teeth, then I rinse my soul.

After around 50 letters on the same topic, I fully expected the letters editor to put a block on my email address. Each time that two weeks passed without a ‘hit’, such was my conclusion. It probably surprised the letters editor as much as myself that I continued to write. I figured what-the-hell; there remained a small chance that my letters were being read, certainly more chance than if I were writing "Dear Diary".

There is no newspaper equivalent of the ABC. A broadsheet like the Herald lives in the commercial world, subject to commercial realities:

One, it must maintain readership levels. I dare say there are people who don’t like reading that they are living in a fool’s paradise. The Herald is thus limited in the extent to which it can hammer the point.

Two, much of the advertising revenue of the paper comes directly or indirectly from enterprises made possible by the burning of fossil fuels. One way or another, pretty much everyone currently owes their livelihood to coal and oil. (Herein lies the crux of the issue. We must progress to a world where business can survive, without producing carbon dioxide, just as we have already progressed from a past world where we were all ultimately reliant on horse fodder.)

By far the most convenient option for the Herald (indeed, for all), is to pretend that global warming does not exist, or is too big to deal with.

The inconvenient truth is that we must deal with it. Earth currently has 6 billion people. An earth subject to more than a few degrees warming, will support a small fraction of this number. In short, our very existence is at stake.

My daily letter then, attempts to deny the Herald the convenient option. A daily reminder that unless we deal with the carbon dioxide crisis, the rest ultimately comes to naught. Unless they regularly produce and print articles on global warming, they are part of the conspiracy, not part of the solution.

There is a line in one of my favorite movies "The Russia House" where Sean Connery says "It takes a hero, merely to be a decent human being". There are many heroes emerging to save our bacon, and they deserve our full support: Al Gore, James Lovelock, David Attenborough, Bill Clinton, Tony Blair, Queen Elizabeth, David Suzuki, Tim Flannery, Clive Hamilton, Helen Caldicott. The following writers at the Herald have taken a stand: Wendy Frew, Stephanie Peatling, Elizabeth Farrelly and Julia Baird while Anne Davies and Ross Gittins have green sympathies. There may be others, these are the people who have caught my eye.

I urge anyone with basic writing skills to write to their local paper, or their local MP, or both, and do it often… Tell them you are not happy to take the convenient option and you are not prepared to live a lie. Spend the day content in the knowledge that you are a decent human being.

Regards,

Carl Sparre

Sydney, Australia