Don’t destroy diesels

THE greatest damage to the environment in the life-cycle of any car occurs at the beginning and end, during its manufacture and its final destruction.

The period in between, though hardly beneficial, is less harmful in relative terms.

Despite this, it is rumoured that the Government will introduce a scrappage scheme for diesels; this will involve the destruction of older cars and the making of new ones to replace them.

Inevitably this manufacturing process will use up more of the Earth’s finite mineral resources. Thus one problem will be ‘solved’ through the creation of another.

This knee- jerk response from politicians to an environmental issue is of a piece with many others.

Another example is the placing of wind turbines in the sea in the hope that they will occasionally generate electricity. This ignores the far more dependable and predictable power source offered by the tidal waters in which they stand. Due to this, they will slowly corrode away.

Another example is the conversion of coal-fired power stations to burn wood, in the bizarre belief that this is somehow sustainable and environmentally friendly.

It is an ongoing mystery that this continues despite the environmental threat posed by the excessive deforestation of the planet.

Future generations will look in disbelief at their ancestors’ preposterous policy of solving small problems by creating bigger ones.

It would make far more sense, environmentally, to stop manufacturing diesel cars and allow those already in existence to complete their natural working life before being replaced.

COliN MACDONAlD, Bottesford, Nottingham.