Global danger

HAVE you seen what has been happening around the world recently? The strongest… the wettest… the worst drought… in years. It’s climate change, stupid!

And it is only going to get worse. We need to throw all we’ve got into slowing it down.

Wind turbines work. Around 42 per cent of Scotland’s power supply came from renewables last year. They also create thousands of jobs and are transforming the economy.

If we are finding it difficult to find suitable places for them on-shore then off-shore is the place to put them. They are more expensive, but operate more of the time.

The economic costs of not doing enough to stop climate change are enormous. The future for our children is looking bleak; the future for those who come after them even bleaker.

Last time carbon dioxide levels were this high, the sea level was several metres higher than it is now. It takes time to get there but unless we put much more effort in than we are currently, we will achieve sea levels which are several metres higher eventually. We’ve only had a 20cm rise so far and we’re already losing coastline.

If we all strive together with extreme urgency, there is still a chance we might avert the worst. What is there to lose?

We would be fitter if we walked and cycled more and grew our own food. We would get to know our neighbours better if we shopped locally. We would support our local economy if we bought locally grown food and locally made goods. We would save money if we insulated our houses and businesses and generated our own power.

We might have to put up with the odd wind turbine, but surely that is better than toxic coal with its short-term legacy of respiratory disease and long-term legacy of climate change, or hydraulic fracturing poisoning our water and continuing our addiction to fossil fuels?

Anne Thomas

Scottish Green Party

North Kessock, Inverness-shire

Dr Willie Wilson (Letters, 12 February) believes that doubling the current capacity of the ­Cruachan pumped storage facility is a “win-win story”.

From an analysis of the available data, this belief is not borne out in the real world.

Between December 2012 and November 2013, only around 2 per cent of Cruachan’s available capacity of 440 megawatts was actually used to generate electricity.

Doubling the capacity can hardly be justified when so little of the existing potential is being used.

(Dr) George M Lindsay

Whinfield Gardens

Kinross, Kinross-shire