Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Corporations and governments got us hooked on cheap, dirty energy – they should help us go cold turkey too

Send your letters to letters@independent.co.uk

Wednesday 08 January 2020 17:58 GMT
Comments
What is causing the climate crisis, and how do we stop it?

Donnachadh McCarthy highlights the feeble arguments presented by Shell to Greta Thunberg in defence of their policies (Oil companies like Shell could destroy humanity as we know it – but not if we make fossil-fuel investments illegal, Voices 8 January).

The blood of Middle East wars is on the hands of major oil companies, but ours too, as we are lazily dependent on cheap dirty energy.

Our beautiful blue planet is being destroyed by our species. As we start the year of 2020, I feel despair. And this feeling has become much more acute now that I have a grandchild. At the tender age of two, he still only finds wonder in his world – but I fear about the world he and his children will inherit.

Having started reading The Uninhabitable Earth by David Wallace-Wells, just 25 pages in I can hardly read on. For the first time, I have wondered if I am one of the last generations (of humans) to exist in the way we have for millennia.

Our planet is like an alcoholic at the age of 65: long-term damage of liver cirrhosis is kicking in and the only hope left is a liver transplant after a period of abstinence and, if still time, a complete change in lifestyle. No more drinking.

Our planet didn’t choose to self-harm. We are the ones who became addicted to oil, electricity and plastic; we have caused the problem. And we can’t stop our addiction when our drug of choice was pedalled to us so cheaply. But it is killing our planet.

There is light on the horizon, however. What a joy to read that Barcelona has opened the largest clean air zone in southern Europe; that the city of York is soon to ban private city centre car journeys; that carbon-neutral houses are being built.

Individuals can become better, but politicians must do better. Governments across the world must take radical action to decarbonise their nations.

Gaia, the ancestral mother of all life, our Earth goddess, is sick. She needs our care.

Alison Hackett
Dublin

Is this really our prime minister?

It is not exactly reassuring, as the UK faces economic upheaval due to Brexit and the world faces a serious threat from the Middle East, that Boris Johnson enjoyed a longer luxury freebie than the rest of us, then failed to appear in parliament to explain clearly the position of the UK government. A position made worse by the infantile response from our new defence secretary to Jeremy Corbyn about never being in government. And these are supposed to be the best leaders we could come up with.

G Forward
Stirling

Boris Johnson’s plans for cutting waste

Boris Johnson wants government departments to cut out waste and provide good value for money for taxpayers (“Boris Johnson could axe hundreds of government projects as he orders ministers to cut waste”, 7 January). But is he going to streamline parliament as well?

The Conservatives have promised in both their 2010 and 2015 manifestos to cut the House of Commons from 650 MPs to 600 MPs by equalising constituencies. It is frankly embarrassing that we have elected MPs sitting on the steps in the Commons chambers or standing at the entrances during important announcements.

Kartar Uppal
Sutton Coldfield, Birmingham

Veganism will save us

People are deeply upset about what’s going on in Australia: kangaroos trapped in barbed-wire fencing while attempting to flee the fires, cows and sheep being cooked alive in the flames, and an estimated 800,000 million or more animals now killed in the conflagrations.

Now, we add shooters being ordered to gun down thousands of camels desperately searching for water. There is something that can be done – a long-term fix for this horror and the others that will inevitably follow, as prolonged heat and drought have extended seasonal wildfire periods around the world and we’re facing mass extinctions, rising sea levels and record-breaking temperature changes.

It’s imperative that we take personal responsibility for the protection of our planet, and by far the easiest way to do that is to stop eating animals and go vegan right now.

The UN has stated that meat consumption must decrease by as much as 90 per cent in order for us to avoid the most catastrophic effects of climate change. This requires zero governmental initiative and no promises from giant corporations – it just means choosing to leave animals out of our shopping trolleys. It’s a simple but revolutionary action that says: “We will not let this planet and countless sensitive animals die on our watch.” We urge all caring people to join the vegan movement. The Earth and all its human and non-human inhabitants depend on it.

Mimi Bekhechi, director of international programmes, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals

Chris Grayling for a knighthood?

Since the publication of the latest honours list, I have been trying to recall the name of the most glaring omission. It came to me last night while lying in bed unable to sleep. Chris Grayling.

He is surely as worthy of a knighthood as IDS. What has happened to the famous British sense of fair play, and where is the campaign to rectify this deplorable oversight?

In a semi-related thought, it occurs to me that even if we revive our sense of fair play honours-wise, we will obviously have to suppress it again to satisfactorily kowtow to American sensibilities trade deal-wise.

Tony Baker
Thirsk, North Yorkshire

Cummings, smarten up, please

I have no intention of applying to Dominic Cummings for a job until he stops dressing scruffily. He looks more suitably attired to join a litter-clearing party on the beach around these parts than to enter Downing Street for work every day.

He will have to spruce himself up a lot more before receiving the benefit of my weirdness.

Edward Thomas
Eastbourne

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in