Economic downturn...

[Flyfisher]

I happen to think that current economic downturn as being overwhelmingly 'a good thing' and should be used as an opportunity to cut back on our unsustainable energy-intensive lifestyles.

Now there we can agree.

Trouble is, I don't see anyone with any political influence saying the same thing. The powers that be (and those that want to be) all want 'normal service' resumed as quickly as possible. The social and political pressures are too great to say anything else. That's why, I suspect, we're incapable, in practice, of doing anything about it.

. . . we can all voice opinions based on a varied level of understanding of any topic but opinion is rarely sufficient to stand up to peer review for a reputable journal.

I think it's very dangerous to consider 'experts' as somehow untouchable simply because they've published their views in peer-reviewed journals. When espousing ideas that are generally agreeable to the mainstream view then peer-review is not a particularly onerous process. Anyway, when it comes to conjectural matters yet to be proven, the scientific literature is full of opposing theories, all peer-reviewed. It's the experimental scientists that eventually clear things up and turn these theories into scientific fact, or not.