Letter: The carbon emissions from building islands

From Daniel Hackett, London, UK

Does anyone else see an irony in the Maldives building up islands or constructing new ones as sea levels rise (25 March, p 12)? The energy used will release more carbon dioxide, as will the planes bringing in tourists, with their own enormous footprints.

This is a microcosm of the spiral of hedonistic lifestyle we have got ourselves into ever since we started on the industrial bandwagon.

It's time for a big – global – cost-benefit analysis of what we are expecting to take from the environment and what we put out. It may already be too late, but we must continue to try.