Sir, – Your editorial ("Time running out for decisive action on climate change", November 12th) provides yet another stark reminder that we on the threshold of irreversible climate change unless there is significant action now to curb and reduce carbon emissions.
What governments seem to miss, amid all the metrics on carbon emissions, is that it is not just industrial emissions that are at issue.The recent rise in temperature has resulted in a thawing of permafrost which is releasing tonnes of methane into the atmosphere. This is feeding an acceleration of climate change which the current pledges will not address.
To have any chance of success the Paris conference needs to confront the main catalyst for increased carbon emissions.
To acknowledge that the current consumption-based economic model – which depends on unsustainable growth and feeds wants rather than needs – is at the heart of the problem is not something that the current political elite will readily admit to.
The pressure exerted by corporate interests on our political class is a huge factor influencing this reticence, so it is vital that we all make sure that our elected representatives understand why they stood for election – to represent their electorate not their patrons.
Hopefully the negotiators in Paris will also remember this and provide us with a sustainable platform to change how we manage the planet. – Yours, etc,
BARRY WALSH,
Blackrock,
Cork.