27th July 2006

Martin Kirby is right when he claims hot days have occurred in the past and specific hot days may not be directly related to our CO2 emissions (24/07/06) - but he misses the point big time when he implies concerns about climate change are unnecessary.

We are already starting to experience the impact of climate change - for example London's average maximum summer temperatures have risen by over 2°C since the early 1970s and in the last weeks Bangladesh, India and China have faced serious flooding. The European heatwave of 2003 resulted in more than 25,000 deaths (i) - such temperatures will likely be the norm.

We know our CO2 emissions are one of the most significant causes of climate change - we need urgent action to avoid the devastating impacts of future extreme weather events. Our government's energy review was a huge missed opportunity.

As last Citizen's Saturday comment column recently refreshingly pointed out, living sustainably doesn't mean living miserably but rather creating a more equal society that has healthier food, clean, safe energy, warmer homes from better insulation and instead of congestion, reliable public transport.

Mr Kirby is in a privileged position to write a weekly column in our local paper: it is a pity he uses it to repeatedly encourage inaction around climate change.

David Wood, Chalford

Notes

(i) Latest calculations revised upwards to 52,000 people