Eric Warrant

also argued that politicians should do more to counter the danger posed by climate change “ravaging” the biosphere. He called for massive investment in technological solutions such as biofuels. “They deserve a priority and commitment from government akin to that accorded to the Manhattan project to build the first atom bomb or the Apollo moon landing project in the 60s.” Also at the festival, former US vice-president Al Gore used the platform to warn a sell-out crowd of the dangers of global warming. “We are running the planet like a company in liquidation,” he said. “For some reason we have now convinced ourselves, too many of us, that we don’t have to care about the future.” Describing the threat posed by global warming, he said there had been an utter transformation in the relationship between the human species and our planet, which gave humankind the capacity to do lasting damage. “We now have the capacity to literally change the relationship between the Earth and the Sun. He warned that action or inaction would be judged by future generations. They would ask, he said: “What were they thinking? Didn’t they see this coming? Were they too distracted? Were they too busy? Didn’t they care?” The increasingly vexing notion of creationism also came under fire. Rees said that it was not compatible with science, “but many people hold to religious views and religious attitudes which are fully compatible... there should be, at the very least, peaceful co-existence between science and most organised religion.” More outspoken about the problems of creationism at the festival was University College London geneticist, Steve Jones. In a lecture entitled “Why Creationism is Wrong and Evolution is Right”, he spoke of his frustration when trying to debate with religious opponents. He said that they frequently quoted him out of context or accused him of lying. “If somebody has decided to believe something — whatever the evidence — there is nothing you can do about it.” Q & A