Population and energy in the age of eco-emergency
Michael (MetroTalk, Tue) agrees with the Social Market Foundation think tank that the falling birth rate is bad for the UK economy. My belief is that things can work well without more children. Advancements in technology and automation could easily replace some jobs. In the 1950s, we had about three billion people on the planet and now we have almost eight billion. Falling birth rate is probably good news.
We are the most destructive creatures on this planet and lead very consumerist and unsustainable lives. There is a lack of housing in the UK and most of the younger generation are doomed to rent for the rest of their life and to struggle financially.
The Social Market Foundation says extending maternity leave could encourage women to have more children – this could be a good first step but on its own it would not convince me to have a child.
The main problem is expensive childcare and the lack of flexible working options for mothers. By providing full-day (6am-8pm) free or cheap childcare, more women would return to work on a part-time or flexible basis.
Not all women wish to stay home with children but if they have a low-paid job it does not make sense for them to return if all their income is used on childcare and their daily commute.
Anna, London
The Social Market Foundation wants us to increase the UK’s population for the sake of the economy, despite the eye-watering carbon footprint each new human brings. If we need young workers, we should open our borders to immigrants eager to work. They get a job and a place in the UK, we get a keen new worker and the planet doesn’t have to suffer more overuse. Triple win.
Greg, Gillingham
Boris Johnson is telling world leaders we must do more to tackle the climate issue (Metro, Tue). All the while Gatwick Airport is planning a huge expansion to increase the number of flights. The air and noise pollution plus local wildlife destruction this will cause is a disgrace. Boris should tackle home climate issues before sounding off at others.
Kitty Spangles, London
Never mind fleecing the person in the street to save the planet – it’s the big corporates, big energy companies and cartels who are only interested in
profit who are ruining things with their greed and corruption.
Lynn, Lancashire
Miss Doyle (MetroTalk, Tue) points out that the current food crisis – caused by a lack of CO2 that is itself due to rising gas prices – shows our overreliance on the private sector.
If any industry is key to a country’s well-being, it shouldn’t be left to the
market. Markets are notoriously fickle and often manipulated for profit over social responsibility.
You only have to look at the US, which privatised everything and looks like a third world country now. So many Americans are living on the street. France and Germany now own a lot of English gas and electricity, as
well as their own. England should get ours back.
B Maloney, via email
We were told in the 1970s that we had a power crisis, yet consecutive governments have refused to address the problem, instead spending our money on grand useless schemes like
HS2 and aircraft carriers that are never in our waters.
We have had winters in the past where power supplies were severely tested. That’s why get so much power from France. We should have become ‘independent’ years ago.
Julian, Leamington Spa
Once again, as winter looms, there are threatened energy shortages and heavy price increases. Why do we rely on foreign suppliers like Russia, who are constantly cutting supplies of gas to Europe and causing disruption to the West? All because they can’t get their own way with a new pipeline.
We already know that our usage of fossil fuels will certainly have to end so we have got to end our reliance on foreign gas and become selfsufficient. Perhaps fracking could raise its head again?
Graham Chadwick, Salford
Reopen the coal mines and open some coal-fired power stations. We are sitting on millions of tonnes of coal. This would create thousands of jobs. Raymond Ibbotson, Llandeilo
It’s already begun – no wind to power generators so a lack of electricity, a soaring cost of gas so people won’t use it. Soon we will be on a three-day week just like in the 1970s.
Kate, West Midlands