It's the end of the world as we know it

Before we part, I ask Lovelock, who lives in Cornwall, if he is utterly gloomy about the future. "No! Humans have gone through seven major climactic changes in the million years we've been around. Even those changes — ice ages — were ones we adjusted to. Admittedly, those adjustments usually took place over thousands of years, and ours will involve an adjustment in little more than two centuries, but we are flexible as a species." He draws a parallel with his wartime experiences in London: "I was here for much of the war and when it happened it wasn't as bad as we had thought it would be. If people are honest, they rather enjoyed it. It could well be similar in the next few decades. Life will become a little more interesting than it was before."