Let’s have action on local climate

Carbon dioxide, the main climate change gas, remains in the atmosphere for a long time, and Christopher Rootes [Letters, February 20] highlights that the UK has the second largest cumulative emissions per person in the world. The largest source of emissions in the UK is from surface transport, mainly from road transport. Unlike other sectors such as electricity, emissions have not decreased. People may think that electric vehicles (EVS) will solve our problems, but the emissions from manufacturing new EVS negate much of the potential reductions, and electricity is not yet zerocarbon. Hence using EVS halves emissions, but it’s not zero-carbon. Motorised vehicles are mostly cars, so their numbers need to be reduced.

The “local issue” for climate change is that car parking should not increase at Wincheap, because we must manage with far fewer cars as soon as possible. Instead the council should be putting money into more footways, cycleways and buses.

For example, the contributions from developers at Thanington etc. should be used to provide on site bus services.

So please can we have action on this? These can be implemented quickly and cheaply with less disruption than new roads.

Hackington Road, Tyler Hill

■ “Local newspapers may be forums for local issues, but if national and global issues are to be discussed in them, that discussion should be informed by evidence.” So said the learned Professor Rootes. Well, here goes! I think that most would agree with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that there’s more than 95 per cent probability that human activities over the past 50 years have warmed our planet. Human-produced greenhouse gases CO2, methane, nitrous oxide and synthetic compounds entirely of industrial origin contribute to the destruction of the ozone layer. This matters since it can impact wind circulation around the globe and rainfall patterns at lower altitudes.

Less than 14 months ago scientists discovered mysterious emissions, preventing the hole in the ozone from closing, were coming from China. The fumes were from a highly toxic and carcinogenic substance called carbon tetrachloride and although banned from being released into the atmosphere since 2010 studies have shown global emissions have not declined as expected, with 40,000 tons still emitted each year.

I know, from personal experience, that carbon tetrachloride was used in coal preparation plants in the UK in the late 50s and early 60s in a process used to separate coal particles from the heavier shale particles. The emissions from eastern China, it might be safe to say, emanate from the numerous coal plants in that region. Until, and unless, we tackle the problem of global warming on a global scale, the temptation to throw another wet log on the proverbial wood burner will be hard to resist for many who rely on these devices.

Meadow Close, Bridge

■ Continued on page 21