Letter: The future of environmental policies as the Green Party falters

Sir: I agree that the Green Party is going 'to the compost heap of history'. But the reasons given in your leading article are incorrect. The Green Party does indeed have some misconceptions about how people and society can be organised, but no more so than the Labour and Conservative parties. Zero growth of population and economy are not policy options, rather they are inevitabilities and the choice is merely between arriving at zero growth by planning or by default. The latter will lead to stress, starvation, fighting over scarce resources, excessive pollution and anarchy.

More than 10 years ago I decided not to join the Ecology Party, because I anticipated that as soon as it became influential the other main parties would claim to be true green as well, and so the Green Party would never become an established force. And so it has turned out.

The failure of the Green Party reflects not so much the bankruptcy of the greens as the bankruptcy of the political system so smugly admired by the establishment of this country, founded on superficial, pretentious election campaigning, and idiotic questions on the ballot paper, presented to voters with minimal incentive to examine the issues with the thoroughness they require. We will not have competent government in Britain and the other so-called democracies until we change to selecting decision-makers in an appropriate way, such as random selection with perhaps some supplementation of relatively talented or expert persons.

Yours sincerely,

ROBIN P. CLARKE

Moseley,

Birmingham

11 September