Have we left it too late to save Earth?
FINALLY, people across the world are realising we really do have a climate crisis. COP26 is being heralded as an opportunity to put serious action plans in place to save our planet. For hundreds of years, humans have been plundering the natural world and destroying habitats and species. We are now talking about carbon emissions, rewilding and bringing back species on the brink of extinction. There is talk of ambitious tree-planting schemes, but some other countries continue to destroy the great forests of the world. Human populations continue to increase and use up land and resources. Vast numbers are starving. I’d like to ask: Are we too late? What if all we are doing is akin to rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. Planet Earth has witnessed extinctions over millions of years. After the age of the dinosaurs, warm-blooded mammals and birds inherited the Earth. We feel we are the top species and our large brains and technological power can insulate us from anything nature can throw at us. Covid has shaken us to the core, though our ingenuity in producing vaccines has enabled us to mount a stern defence. Despite our problem-solving ability, we have to realise humans are not invulnerable to extinction. One day our time might come to an end and another species could inherit the Earth.
DON TOWNSHEND, Chelmsford, Essex.
I’M SURPRISED levels of greenhouse gases hit an all-time high in 2020 and have continued to rise in 2021 (Mail). Surely in 2020 we were under lockdown with hardly any traffic. The Government is rushing us into unaffordable changes just to be seen to be leading the charge on combating climate change. China and Russia will continue on their merry way while we are bankrupted, freezing and hungry. We need affordable options to achieve the goal of net zero.