Green guru James Lovelock: We’re too stupid to deal with climate change

Mankind is not clever enough yet to tackle climate change, one of the world's foremost environmentalists warned today.

James Lovelock, whose work has been a key inspiration of the green movement, also said the issue could be as "severe as war" and democracy might have to be put on hold to deal with it.

Only a truly catastrophic event such as the collapse of an Antarctic glacier, which would push up sea levels, or the return of the American dustbowl would convince people to take strong action, he said.

British scientist Mr Lovelock, now 90, developed the Gaia theory that Earth is a huge, self-regulating organism.

But following the failure of the Copenhagen climate summit, he told the Guardian: "I don't think we are yet evolved to the point where we're clever enough to handle a situation as complex as climate change.

"The inertia of humans is so huge that you can't really do anything meaningful."

He said he believed the world's best hopes for survival were adaptation measures such as building flood barriers around cities and areas vulnerable to rising sea levels.

And he added: "Even the best democracies agree that when a major war approaches, democracy must be put on hold for the time being. I have a feeling that climate change may be an issue as severe as war."