YEP Letters: January 15

Urgent action needed to stop climate change

P A Lloyd, Farsley

Reading all the articles and letters in the Evening Post about the flooding in the north of England, it is clear that the government did far too little by way of flood prevention.

However, it is almost certainly true that the main cause of these extremely unusual floods is climate change. Climate change is already causing far worse floods, storms, droughts and fires elsewhere in the world.

Why is so little said about it? Climate change is getting worse, with unrelenting increases in weather extremes. All the 195 countries which promised to cut harmful emissions at the Paris conference in December need to implement those promises and if possible do even more.

There is no international force to make us all take action, only the knowledge that if we don’t then life on earth is threatened. Our government needs to play its part in the world effort to slow down and then stop climate change before it is too late. Now is much easier and cheaper than later.

Since the election this government has cut right back on subsidies for solar and wind power, throwing a growing industry into chaos.

We cannot afford short term policies. As in so many areas, cuts lead to far more expensive consequences.