As a single example of cause and future effect, last year China increased its primary energy use by 15%. Therefore in 4.96 years China will have doubled its Primary energy requirement. But we believe at the WIF that China's increase was nearer 20% than the 15%, so we believe that things will happen far quicker than they are perceived today.
But the great problem in the world today is that scientific and technological research is dysfunctional and ad hoc in many ways. What I mean by this is that although there is a comprehension of the need to cooperate and collaborate between research institutions, this in relative terms and the urgency that is now upon us all, is far too low. Far too low indeed.
You see the problem is that we have to change from those 20th century technologies that have harmed our planet to those in this century that provide the means for our continued existence as humans and thereby the ultimate sustainability of planet Earth; for we only have one planet and one planet alone to depend upon.