• OUR MP Tulip Siddiq raised many points in her May 2 letter (There is a climate emergency and we must act), starting with concerns about local pollution; and one might respond to just two issues so as to be brief:

To accept the remarkable teenage prophet Greta Thunberg is good in one way, to share in her concern for the world at large, her future (and ours). Thunberg told her audience that “one person can make a huge difference” and certainly she herself is one such person.

However, a downside to believing that “I” or “we” are responsible for widespread damage, and therefore “we” are to shoulder the burden of making things better is a kind of pride we should be careful about.

A very recent BBC news release shows that the greatest emitter of greenhouse gas is a Far East country shown as responsible for 26.6 per cent of total emissions. The UK was not in this list and for us to undertake a major revolution in our economic structures is unlikely to make much difference to the world’s dangers.

The challenge is to find a way to persuade other much more populous and “developing” countries that they should curb their expansion. I have no answer to this but maybe Tulip Siddiq does have some effective suggestions.

MALLORY WOBER
Lancaster Grove, NW3