SIR

The Climate Emergency - So, Is It All Doom And Gloom?

The short answer is … no.

The recent UN report on climate change was “A red code for humanity”, and many parts of it make for frightening reading. But here is my favourite climate-related fact ….

If you add together all of the energy that the world’s 7 billion+ people use (to grow and cook food, to travel, to build and occupy homes and workplaces, to mine things, make things, etc.) for an entire year, then this is the same amount of energy that the sun delivers to the surface of the Earth every hour.

Which means that future generations will find themselves living in a greener, cleaner, quieter and safer Test Valley than the one we live in now. Because we will increasingly tap into this vast amount of clean energy and be able to use it in all manner of life-enhancing and environment-improving ways.

But, between now and then we must treat climate change as an emergency, exactly as we have done with Covid. If we do not, then our children and grandchildren are going to have to cope with ever more frequent and severe impacts of rising temperatures. And if we are to match that hope for a better future then, to quote a certain Swedish 18-year old … “Hope does not come from words. Hope comes from actions”.

Cllr Neil Gwynne

Climate Emergency Champion, Test Valley Borough Council