Jeremiah is the prophet for our times – he is the one who warned Judah that having the Temple wouldn’t save them from the armies of Nebuchadnezzar, and that the people of Israel had to return to the living God.

We don’t have a literal army encamped around our civilisation (not yet anyway) but we can see the dimensions of the forces which will destroy our way of life – in sum, the Limits to Growth. In so far as our civilisation is based upon the physical growth of our economy, then so far will it cease in the foreseeable future. How far in the future? I don’t know, but I feel that our civilisation is like St Sebastian and the first arrows have already hit.

I wanted to say this because it puts my comments about AGW in their proper context. In particular, I feel that much of the sturm und drang about climate change is a displacement activity. It is as if Jeremiah spent his time shoring up the defences of Jerusalem. That time has come and gone my friend. Which is why my thoughts these days are more along the lines of ‘Why bother saving the planet?‘

We have our instructions and commands and we know what it is that the Lord requires of us. If we pursue that path then the Lord’s patience will be our salvation: “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” (2 Chronicles 7.14)