We have to adapt or our environment will not survive and we are doomed

Sir, – All species evolve and adapt to their environments, if they don’t they go extinct.

Uniquely because of our evolved brains and opposable thumbs, human beings have been able to massively exploit and adapt the environment to an extent unheard of since Earth formed.

It is acknowledged that our climate is changing, either as a result of the sun’s activity, our exploitation and most likely a combination of both.

While it may be that the sun is in a phase of one of its cycles, the fact is that our environment is actually changing.

If we do not adapt what we are doing then we will probably not be in any position to move quickly enough to cope with those changes. While human beings may not survive such changes it may be that, in some distant future, another species may evolve to take our place, but that is not guaranteed and it won’t be us.

Our current exploitation of the Earth’s resources at a rate that the environment cannot cope with is a factor in the changes we are seeing, with ever-increasing frequency and impact. Regardless of the provability or extent of our contribution if we do not adapt to the changing environment we will not survive in our current collective form of society, if at all.

It may be that in a few hundred years fears over the climate changes are proven groundless, but who will thank us if they are not and we’ve done nothing to mitigate the consequences? This is not doom-mongering because the doom will only occur if we do not adapt.

So those suggesting we ignore green policies on the basis of it will cost us too much now, or we are powerless in the face of the changes are the ones bringing the prospect of that doom forward.

Pretending or hoping that the potential doom does not exist does nothing to defend against it and we can try to defer that prospect or we give in to the inevitable if we carry on as we are.

However, we also have to recognise that the process of adapting does incur short term environmental and financial consequences. Nick Cole. Balmacron Farmhouse, Meigle.