I think the letters' pages of newspapers are often their best bits, where you read what ordinary people actually think and you hear some very original thinking.
For example, here is an excellent letter that appeared in The Independent in October 2006.
Hooked by the desire for growth.
Sir:
The gist of Stern's message is that we have to make some sacrifices now to avert future catastrophe. The sacrifice we are being asked to make is to do without some economic growth.
This is an odd use of the word "sacrifice" because it would mean, in practice, that we would have to work less hard. And it would mean we would have to shop at a less frenetic rate, pay less for a home, and travel in cars and planes much less often. And because we would be less pressured and less stressed, we would probably be happier and healthier and have more time for each other.
The politicians believe climate change can be sorted out by applying a combination of green taxes, carbon trading and new technology. These measures will not be nearly enough. The real problem is the modern world's addiction to materialism and to the belief that "more is better".
We have more speed, but less quality time for ourselves; more choice, but less satisfaction; more schools and universities, but less education in the original sense of the word; more doctors and hospitals, but less health in any deeper sense; more telecommunications, but less relating in any meaningful way; more goods and services, but less self-reliance; more police and prisons, but less security.
Until we address the core problem - our addiction to materialism and our constant dissatisfaction with what we have - things will just get worse. Making driving or flying more expensive will not deter people. They will find the money somehow. If we doubt this, we need look no further than the housing market. What should be a basic necessity of life in an advanced society, a home, has now become a high-priced luxury, yet people are willing to go into lifetime debt to buy one, and to spend their whole working lives paying it off.
That is surely a special form of madness, but it is symptomatic of the pervasive madness of materialism, which generates so many of our problems, including the problem of climate
change.
CHRIS THOMSON
EDINBURGH