Who sold them the houses?
Ok - as everyone in Cornwall knows, second homes are highly controversial at the moment, because the local people cannot afford to buy homes in the towns they were raised in. When this is combined with a general lack of affordable housing across the county (and in fact in any rural community in an attractive part of the UK) one cannot help but have sympathy for today's and future generations.
However one has to ask the questions - who sold their homes to the second home owers? Who allowed them to come in and escalate the prices of these properties? Who made a very tidy capital gain as a result of the increasing desire for the city bound to escape their concrete confines for the shores of our beautiful county?
The answer is to a large extent the very same people who now complain that they (or their children) cannot afford to buy a house in the area. I know of no one who has decided to take a significantly lower price when they sold their house, just to ensure a local person could afford to buy it. They would argue that they need to get the maximum price to buy their next house, which has of course gone up in price, because the next person in the chain wants to maximise their personal profit. So the escaltion continues and affordibility decreases.
Unfortunately this patten of property prices is not new, although the scales of increase maybe significantly more rapid than in the past (isn't everything in life now!). Perhaps the issue is really more one of expecation. When earlier generations grew up and started work, they didn't necessarily expect to be able to afford to live in the same area as their parents, but rather aspired to be able to afford to live where their parents did in the future, after hard work and some success. Perhaps modern generations are used to having it all "NOW" as a result of the immediacy of modern life and technology, and the massive availablity of finance? Either way, a Padstonian still expects (even believes they have a right) to afford to live in Padstow, as if the town was still a quaint, sleepy fishing village dependent on the daily ebb and flow of the fishing fleet.
Sad though it is, times have changed and all we can do is adapt. By all means have a voice but temper it with an understanding that the situation here is not unique, and neither can the solutions be. The Lake District and many other places, including Wales (despite their best pyrotechnic efforts) and Scotland, have suffered at the hands of this phenomena. The solution may be in ressurecting communities and acting as one rather than just for profit, or maybe just in viewing the situation differently, perhaps even as an opportunity. Perhaps we can integrate the second home owners more deeply into our communities in such a way that their contributions (financial or otherwise) are of benefit rather than just to our detriment.
What is certain is that there is no simple rapid solution, so in the interim, work together buy houses in groups than as individuals, make your money and get on the property ladder somewere, some how. Alternatively just blame your parents, sit on your hands, complain about city bonuses, and sell them your house.
This is for Jake - our resident geek (and proud of it). Here he will impart words of technical and geekish wisdom to share with the more scientific and programme minded of the audience. 
Are we doomed!? Well it certainly seems that way, as we continue to pump out those greenhouse gasses with only a cursory glance to the next generations environmental nightmares. Sometimes it seems impossible to see how things will ever change. We have developing economies such as China ready to fill any CO2 gap (and you can't blame them - they want to "develop" too!) that we could plug with reduced emmissions and improved thermal efficiencies. What to do?