MOST ENVIRONMENTAL DISCOURSE, that clamour of alarm that rises around us with each passing month, is built on numbers. Percentages, proportions, increments of change are the revelatory facts used by advocates and sceptics alike. They are brought out to convince, to urge action. The food crisis is Malthusian – geometric population growth set against arithmetic yields; levels of atmospheric carbon are ‘ppmv’ (parts per million by volume), the effects of global warming are presented in degrees of Fahrenheit change, or in centimetres of sea-level rise (or metres). Numbers are unarguable. They are ...
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