Dear Baya,

     We’ve just been doing a course in biology and ecology. There was a lot of talk about how resources are limited, eco-systems under strain, economic laws which lead us to produce less over time. Though I understood some of it, I’d really be grateful if you could again simply and without jargon explain some of the basic laws which control our lives as just one species of animal living on a crowded planet.

     Could you tell me about the laws of population, of resources, of the ways in which we seem helpless as the deserts spread, forests shrink and seas become lifeless?

     I know this sounds a bit dry, but I really feel that there must be some fairly strong forces which apply to energy and biology and which I need to know in order to understand other things. A crash course (very brief!) in basic biology, demography and economics would do me good as long as it is readable and gets to the nitty gritty..

     Is it true that we are running out of all sorts of resources – water, oil, coal, wood? Is it true that most ways in which we produce wealth soon hit a ceiling and begin to become less effective? And does this even apply at a lower level to the things I do?

     Do let me know about the chains which imprison all of us human animals and then at least I’ll be able to wear them with understanding. I might even loosen a few of them a little with your help.

Lots of love,