Letters archive

While I accept your positive idea of easing up on doom-mongering in messages about climate change, I fear your article doesn't address one of the great climate unknowns ( Leader, 19 August ). You state that "climate change is happening, and we can stop it if we choose to". But we really don't know how …

I am pleased you are encouraging a less catastrophist approach to the messaging on climate change. I despair to see young people frightened to the point of feeling hopeless about the future. Our message to them should be one of optimism. We will have technologies in place to reduce our influence on the rise in …

One less-discussed effect of human adaptation to rising temperatures could be a change in clothing fashions in some parts of the world, which may have wider repercussions. If we have more very hot and sunny days, will Western fashion begin to lose its appeal? Some may opt for longer, cooler dresses with arms covered, causing …

Your latest special issue on climate change was generally fair and objective, but other than a brief parenthetical reference to China's nuclear power programme, there was no recognition of nuclear power as a major and near-term contributor to reducing our carbon emissions. No "green" movement can be taken seriously without a full-throated endorsement of this …

In "Unnatural disasters" by Friederike Otto, we learn that Multnomah county in Oregon is suing fossil fuel companies for $50 billion in damages caused by a 2021 heatwave. Thanks to Google Street View, I was able to see the nature of the place. Everywhere I looked, I saw nice houses, many with visible air conditioning …

I agree that we need to be cautious about how we use the internet and phones because of firms trying to get our data. But I don't agree that this is "a game you can only lose", as one contributor put it. If you exercise, then your data should help you with your health insurance …

The fundamental problem with obesity isn't that the real cause of it has yet to be confronted, but that the real cause isn't known. If it is only that ultra-processed foods support over-consumption, as Pauline Keyne suggests, why is it that food intake in the US was stable at roughly 2200 kilocalories per day from …

It has been more than 35 years since I saw it, but seeing Simon Ings recommend the film Threads brought up memories of how horrific this fictional account of nuclear war is. It should be required viewing for all politicians in a country with a nuclear arsenal ( 12 August, p 30 ).

I read your piece on the power of gestures accompanying speech with interest. However, the conclusion, and especially the assertion that other people's gestures "offer a window into the thoughts that speakers have but don't express in their words", seems at odds with previous research demonstrating that people are better at detecting if others are …

The flame you used to illustrate geologic hydrogen is incandescent. It looks more like methane to me ( 5 August, p 12 ).