We should be grateful to the young folk who are carrying on the fight for the planet
ALEXANDER Mckay (Letters, February 19) accuses young people protesting at the lack of action on climate change of “having destructive fun”, an assertion I find totally bizarre.
I direct his attention to a report from a commission, convened by the World Health Organisation, the United Nations children’s agency, Unicef, and the medical journal the Lancet, which calls for radical changes to protect children’s health and futures from the intensifying climate emergency.
That report claims that “climate change, ecological degradation, migrating populations, conflict, pervasive inequalities, and predatory commercial practices threaten the health and future of children in every country”.
The commission calls on governments to put measures in place to ensure that we bequeath our children a liveable planet even though currently, in spite of the scale of the challenge, “we seem to be paralysed”.
I say to Mr Mckay and to those who are like-minded, as well as to the indifferent who are comfortable in their perceived security, that we ought not only to have the greatest admiration for the young folk who are taking matters into their own hands but to express our support for them at every available opportunity and in every conceivable way.
John Milne, Uddingston.
BECAUSE nobody listened to the warnings over the last 40 years, the planet has now reached tipping point. That means it is approaching the point where it is too late to reverse the damage. We only have, if we are lucky, about five years to save ourselves. We have to cause disruption to force ordinary citizens to tackle climate change, for the simple reason that governments either are not doing enough or are doing nothing at all. Environmental activists are already planting trees and cleaning beaches, and have been doing so for 40 years. All the time Alexander Mckay has had his eyes and ears closed to what was going on, activists have been acting.
Margaret Forbes, Kilmacolm.
GRETA Thunberg and the young talk the green talk but when it comes to doing something about pollution it’s the baby boomers who outdo all other generations. Surveys show that apart from veganism (nine per cent of 16-24 year-olds claim to be vegan compared to just two per cent among the over-55s), boomers are ahead in every category.
When it comes to reducing our carbon footprint, younger people fall short. They buy endless cheap clothes, ride Ubers rather than buses, have fast food delivered to them and eat smashed avocados from Mexico rather than seasonal vegetables from local suppliers. All this boosts fuel emissions and non-recyclable plastic use.
Boomers are more likely than the 25-34 age group to use recycling bins (85 per cent versus 65 per cent), to avoid single-use plastic (70 per cent versus 55 per cent), eat fruit and vegetables in season (50 per cent to 35 per cent) and to buy from local suppliers (65 per cent to 45 per cent). For all Ms Thunberg’s pejorative rants, research shows older people are quietly leading the charge.
Rev Dr John Cameron, St Andrews.
THANK you, Doug Maughan, for your incisive analysis of Police Scotland’s estimate of the cost of policing COP26 (Letters, February 19). Before we start a public discussion, should we not now first have a response from Police Scotland explaining just how it has arrived at a figure like £250 million?
Nick Dekker, Cumbernauld.
Dun writing?
REFERRING to Robert I G Scott’s letter (February 17) , his historical comments are all correct, but if the Picts had lost the battle of Dun Nechtain against the Northumbrian Angles in May 685 there would probably be no Scotland today and that would have reduced the number of letters to The Herald.
G M Service, Glasgow G41.