Readers letters: Climate crime

On Monday July 3, global average temperature broke all previous records. Picture: ATTA KENARE/AFP via Getty Images

The UK had the hottest June on record this year. Record temperatures have also been noted in Spain, and in many Asian countries. China is sweltering under an enduring heatwave, and the southern US has also been experiencing extreme heat. On Monday July 3, global average temperature broke all previous records.

According to a report concerning climate change from the United Nations Climate Action research teams, humans are responsible for over 75 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions, and nearly 90 per cent of carbon dioxide emissions. We should all sit up and take notice of these statistics, instead of shrugging our shoulders and turning our attention to less alarming, and guilt eliciting, news.

Perhaps the public should be treated like under-achieving pupils who “could do better”. No more pussy-footing about the reality of our lethal impact on the planet. We must all do our homework, and learn the facts about this climate crisis before we reach the point of no return. It’s time to acknowledge that we don’t fully deserve to be known as “wise humans”.

If some of us survive the destruction of our once pristine planet, we will bear a huge burden of shared guilt for our crime.

Carolyn Taylor, Broughty Ferry

Green energy cost

The warning from power company Vattenfall that wind farm material and labour costs have increased by 40 per cent and interest rate charges have escalated implies that when it comes to the offshore wind farm Seagreen, the cost of £3 billion per GW will have risen to around £6bn per GW for future projects.

These factors surely highlights the requirement of the SNP to re-assess the cost of a green transition. For example, is the £150bn price tag for a green revolution (given at 2020 values) now above £300bn? Does it also mean that the diktat from Patrick Harvie that flat owners must fit a heat pump, at a cost of £40,000 per flat owner, now comes at a revised cost of over £80,000?

The SNP energy paper outlines a 45 GW increase in wind farm capacity above the current 15GW of generation plant but there is no mention that the revised cost means a bill of £270bn to be underwritten by Scottish energy consumers. Repaid over ten years, does this mean an annual increase of around £9,000 in household energy bills?

However, as wind farm output is inefficient (it requires 60GW of renewables to match the 20GW of the SNP proposed gas turbine project output), it is inefficient (no wind means no output) and is unreliable (any drop in wind speed results in a drop in output) means consumers paying for yet another 20GW of hydrogen fuelled plant to keep the lights on in Scotland. The only problem is that the energy secretary has yet to announce the debt faced by consumers to install such an unproven technology. Assuming it is another £270bn then the total bill for a Green Transition will be about £840bn. That raises the question: can Scottish consumers repay such a debt if independence results in a decade of austerity?

Ian Moir, Castle Douglas

Poll trickery

The latest Survation poll published yesterday commissioned by RenewableUK tells us that “nearly two-thirds of people support building a new power grid in the UK to boost energy security and decarbonise the UK economy”.

Such polls, are often paid for by industry wanting to show evidence of their desired public opinion. For example a poll claiming 70 per cent support for onshore wind farms showed that of the 1,700 respondents to the poll, only 7 per cent (119) were from Scotland where the greatest number of onshore turbines are located.

That is 0.002 per cent of the Scottish population. Of those 119, only 38 (32 per cent) replied that they lived within five miles of a wind farm. That is 0.0007 per cent of the Scottish population. In contrast, there were 192 respondents from London. Why ask Londoners their opinion of living within five miles of an onshore turbine or a pylon when they are never likely to live anywhere near them?

It is not widely known that survey firms select their respondents from a panel and even use outside respondents from other companies. Those respondents are paid. The selection criteria are not published and any attempts to find out what these are by campaign group Scotland Against Spin, have resulted in silence. There is simply weighting applied to factors such as age, gender, socioeconomic status and UK regions. Questions are loaded and you cannot progress in a questionnaire without answering all questions. You are ‘forced’ to answer all questions if you want payment.

It really is about time that the wider press investigated the sham conclusions presented by these polls and reported poll data more accurately.

Aileen Jackson, Uplawmoor

Barge in action

The first group of asylum seekers have arrived on the Bibby Stockholm barge in Dorset.

History will remember this government for their flagrant disregard of basic human rights and international laws.

Leftake

It looks safer than a war torn country & a place to sleep which is more than many homeless people on our streets get.

Dan

With a fresh outbreak of Covid, an ideal airborne disease concentration area. As were prison ships in the past.

Terry Moore

All this is happening while the cowardly leader of the Tory Party hides in his mansion abroad.

Malcolm Cowell

There is a reason it was created for less than 500 people.

Fred

Sadly, this barge is actually an improvement on some of the accommodation asylum seekers are inflicted with in other parts of the UK.

Darwin1800

Lost generation

Following the recent industrial action by teachers in Scotland, pupils across the country can ill afford other impending school closures as support staff fight for better pay and conditions.

With the devastating effects of the Covid lockdown still affecting pupils mentally and academically, every effort should be made to avoid further disruption to enable a lost generation of learners to recover.

There is no point in ministers sitting on their hands hoping that the dispute will resolve itself. It won’t and there is a duty on Humza Yousaf and his education minister to get round the table with unions to hammer out a fair and just deal.

Nicola Sturgeon wanted to be judged on her education record and failed miserably. The same applies to her continuity candidate and he has to grasp the nettle.

Bob MacDougall, Kippen, Stirlingshire

Learning curve

As a football fan of many years standing, may I say how much I am enjoying the ongoing women’s world cup. The standards are unbelievably high and the play entertaining and, much like tennis, the women’s game is slightly different, but only in a physical stature sense. There are the same crunching tackles and lung-bursting runs and the non-stop action is every bit as good and as entertaining as the men’s game.

In fact, the only major differences from the men’s game I have spotted are good ones. I have not seen a single penalty box dive or a feigned injury to con the ref and waste time or gain advantage. The men could learn a lot from this. After what I watched at Easter Road on Sunday of opposition players performing dying swan acts at regular intervals, there is an awful lot we could copy profitably from the women’s game.

Alexander McKay, Edinburgh

Silly season

Scottish football returned at the weekend and with it, the return of the players’ silly quotes.

After their 1-0 defeat at Kilmarnock, the new Rangers goalkeeper said “nothing is won here, nothing is lost here”. I think his manager might have a different take on the result, namely 0 points were won here and 3 points were lost.

Jim Houston, Edinburgh

BMI madness

Sometimes I find it difficult to believe what I am reading in my daily newspapers but some newly publicised legislation really took me aback.

Apparently, fishermen working on boats will have to have a medical certificate which clearly states that they have a Body Mass Index of less than 35. That is to say that they are not “overweight”. The upshot of this lunacy is immediately apparent in as much as fishermen currently working on boats will be forced to resign if their BMI is over the limit. Presumably those same men were carrying out their jobs on the boat perfectly well or else they would have lost their jobs already!

Are we really entering an era where we might be dismissed because we are the "wrong weight" or, perhaps soon .... the "wrong height"?

It all makes me wonder what other professions will be next to experience the Body Mass Index axe.... "Nursing"? "Teaching"?.... even "Politics" !

Archibald A. Lawrie

Kingskettle, Fife