Leadership needed to save our sick Earth

THERE’S a minor miracle happening in our hospital radiology departments. Without touching your body, problems can be detected using CT and MRI scans and X-rays. These devices save countless lives.

With a similar technological marvel, our planet is being scanned,too, from satellites orbiting far above us. The data has been used by weather forecasters for decades and increasingly for climate science.

In 2021, a team led by NASA scientist, Ryan Kramer, along with scientists from Leeds University, were able to measure that there is more energy entering the earth’s atmosphere than is leaving, causing the atmosphere and oceans to heat.

Crucially, the technique developed by Kramer and his team was able to show what’s causing this and how quickly it’s getting worse.

The work confirmed that human activities are changing Earth’s energy budget, trapping much more energy from the Sun than is escaping back into space.

The result didn’t reach the headlines because it was telling us what climate scientists already knew from multiple indirect sources. But, importantly, it emphasised prior knowledge, by using direct measurement, the strongest form of scientific evidence.

Satellites are also helping in other ways because we can now detect methane leaks from oil and gas fields. Methane is far more potent as a greenhouse gas than CO2 and, because methane degrades much quicker, reducing methane emissions has a quick positive impact.

Governments are funding research that tells us more and more

Steve Robinson took this picture of a fox in his Brentwood garden two minutes from the High Street. He said: “The fox is the smallest member of the canine family so has traits in common with domestic dogs, coyotes and wolves. Unlike some of these, however, the fox is not a pack animal. Grouping together only for the raising of cubs, the rest of the time they are solitary and hunt and sleep alone” about climate change and what action we should take to work with the planet, not against it.

Now they need to show real leadership to ensure our economies and societies become sustainable, because we’re making our earth sick.

Otherwise, it would be like developing CT scans without funding the cures.

Jacqueline Green

via email

Threats to food security become ever greater.

Insurance companies are pulling back from insuring against anything climate related.

People everywhere are increasingly scared.

Opinion polls say overwhelmingly they want political leaders to act.

And yet what do these leaders do to our beloved UK?

They undermine international commitments to ‘phase out’ fossil fuels or even ‘transition away’ and ignore expert scientific advice.

They do the opposite of what’s needed by issuing new oil and gas licences, opening new coal mines and now a new round of gas power stations – all locking us into more decades of dependence.

They tell blatant lies about enhancing energy security and lowering energy costs for consumers. They claim to be world leading while reversing previous world leading policy.

They allow companies like Shell and BP to make astronomical levels of profit from artificially high prices (caused by global factors) and introduce a windfall tax full of loopholes.

They come on TV week after week telling us things that are obviously not true.

Liz Finlayson

Via email

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