The devastation and human misery described in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report (IPCC issues ‘bleakest warning yet’ on impacts of climate breakdown. 28 February) stands as an indictment of failing political leaders and their complicity with a fossil fuel industry that is literally destroying our only home.
Scientists warn that we must act quickly to transition away from coal, oil and natural gas to clean energy. The longer we delay the transition, the more catastrophic the impact. Our elected leaders have no excuse; we must pressure them to act. Affordable clean energy is increasingly available. There are policy solutions. In near unanimity, economists say that the best way to speed the transition is to make the polluting industry pay a fee on its carbon pollution.
If included in climate legislation, this policy could reduce emissions in half by 2030, spur investments in renewables, provide revenue to support families and motivate other nations, including China, to adopt similar policies.
Bob Taylor
Montecito, California, US
• Your article highlighted the differences between the natural sciences and the social sciences. The natural sciences – physics, chemistry, biology – provide laws that hold true with or without the presence of man. Natural sciences are universal in terms of the location in the universe. The social sciences – economics, politics – can only exist as a construct of man. Unfortunately, politicians and economists assume they have dominion over the natural sciences.
The casualty of this mismatch is the environment. We cannot have infinite growth on a finite planet. The outcome is undoubtedly bleak, but the natural sciences will provide a comprehensive explanation of the failure of politicians and economists.
Chris Hill
Sheffield
• Citizens of the 195 countries of the globe, especially those who live near rivers, in the path of forest fires, violent winds and hurricanes, or encroaching seas, already know what the IPCC report says – that all parts of the globe will be impacted. And although climate change will affect every country in the world, its effects will not be felt equally, initially. Countries with high levels of poverty face the gravest risks immediately from global heating.
Recent events have exposed the wilful blindness of all our leaders in the face of this global catastrophe. If we do not act now, our children and grandchildren, in every nation, face dangerous temperature rises.
Lay down those expensive deadly weapons please, leaders of all nations. We world citizens do not want to kill each other after all. We have something more important to do. And to those leaders still intent on murderous land and profit grabs, there is no need to waste money on tanks and missiles; the climate will snatch away your land and will kill your children anyway.
Drusilla Long
Leeds
• I am struck by the timing of the IPCC report and terrible news from Ukraine. Both the climate emergency and the Ukraine situation are exacerbated by engineers and scientists choosing to devote their talents to the development of “improved” weapons; the direct and indirect costs of these decisions are simply not justifiable in this time of crisis. Is it time for engineers and scientists to take the equivalent of the Hippocratic oath?
Laurence Kenney
Manchester
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