AT THE end of his letter, Alan Ware says,”lessons have been learned”. One lesson that hasn’t been learned is that climate change, arising mainly from the burning of fossil fuels threatens to make much of the planet uninhabitable.

To avert this danger, scientists say that most of the oil, coal and gas that remains should be left in the ground. The possibility of low fuel prices is therefore not a matter for celebration but a cause of great concern. The dangers of climate change hugely outweigh any benefits we may get from continuing to burn fossil fuels.

We must therefore wean ourselves off fossil fuels as rapidly as possible. The loss of economic growth should not be lamented; we have had several decades of it by now and it does not seem to have solved any major problem, certainly not poverty.

Incidentally, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds says “Climate change poses the single greatest long-term threat to birds and other wildlife…” while the Centre for Sustainable Energy in Bristol says, “ Wind turbines represent an insignificant fraction of bird deaths caused by man-made objects and activities…” This small risk can be tackled through the planning system.

Clive Shakesheff, Chepstow