Prince Charles Windsor: Warns of environmental doom

Prince Charles Windsor: Warns of environmental doom

On Wednesday Prince Charles Windsor warned people for causing environmental catastrophe by saying that the world must "urgently confront" pressing green issues to avoid destroying "our children's future."

Prince Charles Windsor, the heir to the throne, warned that today's consumer society came at an enormous cost to the planet and people must "face up to the fact" that it was no longer sustainable.

He also said that preserving and maintaining the ecosystems of the world was inextricably linked to the economic well-being of nations.

The prince, who has campaigned on safeguarding the rain forests and has been known for his strong environmental views, set out his vision for tackling the threats to the planet in a major speech at St James's Palace in London.

Charles said that we were "at an historic moment -- because we face a future where there is a real prospect that if we fail the Earth, we fail humanity."

He continued, "To avoid such an outcome, which will comprehensively destroy our children's future, we must urgently confront and then make choices which carry monumental implications," he said.

Further he added, "We are standing at a moment of substantial transition where we face the dual challenges of a world view and an economic system that seem to have enormous shortcomings, together with an environmental crisis -- including that of climate change -- which threatens to engulf us all."

Charles described the effect that mankind caused on the planet, from creating the cause of  thinning of the Arctic sea ice to threatening the world's rainforests, which have reduced by a third since the 1950s.

Delivering the annual Richard Dimbleby lecture in honour of the veteran broadcaster, Charles said that it appeared that, if the world continued on its present path, it would lead to a "depleted and divided planet".

He said, "But for all its achievements, our consumerist society comes at an enormous cost to the Earth and we must face up to the fact that the Earth cannot afford to support it”. "Just as our banking sector is struggling with its debts -- and paradoxically also facing calls for a return to so-called 'old-fashioned' traditional thinking -- so nature's life-support systems are failing to cope with the debts we have built up there too."