Letters archive

Finally, some positive news from Australia, after 10 years of climate wars that have led to the country being called a climate laggard ( 28 May, p 9 ). That said, while the newly elected Labor party has set a respectable emissions target – at 43 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030 – it …

It is a shame that nuclear power generation is a spin-off from bomb production ( 28 May, p 38 ). That, and some unfortunate accidents, have given it a bad public image. This is hardly justified in terms of the number of people actually killed and injured by the industry. Nevertheless, I am surprised that …

Wood burning costs the EU and UK €13 billion a year in health-related costs and is responsible for 48 per cent of health costs from air pollution due to fossil fuels and wood burned in homes for heating or cooking ( 9 April, p 22 ). Monkeypox, despite its name, usually spreads among animals such …

The best solution to the huge environmental problem posed by fast fashion is to encourage the manufacture and purchase of considerably fewer, but higher quality, garments – particularly those that could be classified as "eternally fashionable" ( 4 June, p 38 ). Manufacturers would probably lose out a little, due to producing clothes more slowly …

In a low-carbon future, the need for nuclear power is probably inevitable ( 28 May, p 38 ). For those who worry about radiation from nuclear waste, consider this: what would be better, to have this waste stored somewhere known and safe for thousands of years, or to suffer an indeterminate period, perhaps millions of …

I understand Chanda Prescod-Weinstein's problem with the physics of flight ( 11 June, p 28 ). As a designer and builder of model aircraft when young, I found references to Bernoulli's principle were quite unhelpful to explain lift, especially when considering a wing with an identical top and bottom. The missing element in most of …

To add to the letter on degrowth, 50 years ago, a report called The Limits to Growth was published ( Letters, 4 June ). This was based on work at MIT, yet was ridiculed by economists, politicians and bankers. It was years ahead of its time. Every word of it is now coming true and …

Graham Lawton writes about the plight of the bumblebee versus the honeybees kept by urban hobbyists ( 21 May, p 28 ). The analogue to humans seems obvious: overly dense communities of urbanites muscling in and mindlessly using resources, while pastoral folk and the wider environment suffer most of the consequences.

In 2020, the world almost totally shut down due to covid-19, but we only saw a drop in carbon dioxide emissions of around 6 per cent ( Leader, 11 June ). Given this, there seems no chance of getting the yearly cuts needed to limit temperature rise to 2°C. Global warming is happening and happening …

Our look at the condition known as brain fog that can result from covid-19 featured Courtney Shukis ( 11 June, p 38 ).