Newark Advertiser reader letters: Climate action is needed now

In his letter last week, Mr Shepherd overlooked the pressing necessity of addressing climate change.

Continuing on our current trajectory risks undermining not only our standard of living but also that of our children and grandchildren.

The alarming rate of glacial melting in Antarctica and Greenland has led to rising sea levels, threatening coastal cities worldwide.

It doesn’t take a complex computer model to realise that, if left unaddressed, this will result in catastrophic losses within the next 50 to 100 years.

Over the last decade, extreme weather events have already cost the global economy $2 trillion, and this financial burden is set to rise.

Additionally, shortages in food and water could spark migration crises on an unprecedented scale.

Mr Shepherd referenced a “30% increase in US national utility prices,” presumably since 2021 when President Biden took office.

Research suggests volatile natural gas prices, uneconomic coal plants, and the cost of hardening power distribution systems against extreme weather are primary reasons electricity bills keep rising.

Despite the US being nearly self-sufficient in natural gas, global market prices dictate what consumers pay.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine has significantly impacted these prices, underscoring the UK government’s strategy to invest in renewable energy and mitigate these damaging fluctuations.

It is tempting to blame governments throughout the world for their failure to seriously address the threat of climate change.

Yet it is us, the consumers who have the power to make change, and it is us who are ignoring the dire warnings scientists have been giving us for over a decade.

We are nearing critical tipping points within the Earth’s systems — thresholds that, once crossed, will trigger irreversible changes beyond human control.

These tipping points include the loss of ice sheets, leading to devastating sealevel rises; Amazon die-back, further accelerating global warming; and the collapse of key ocean currents like the

Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (Transatlantic Drift), which would drastically alter weather patterns here in the UK.

Addressing climate change requires immediate global action on a governmental and equally importantly on an individual scale.

The stakes could not be higher. — Nick Roulstone, via email.