Letters: It's too late to talk about net zero. We must plan for the catastrophic situation to come

Our attempts at reducing carbon emissions, while going in the right direction, will, I am afraid, do very little to limit the world’s temperature increase. Probably nothing we do now will stop it increasing to 2-4C in the foreseeable future. This means that as temperatures become more and more extreme much of the Indian sub-continent, Africa, the Middle East, and others will increasingly become completely inimical to human life. What are these billions of people going to do?

In the absence of any positive action, I expect they will travel north to cooler areas like Western Europe and North America. If politicians thought that 25-30,000 migrants crossing the Channel per year is a lot, just wait until that number reaches upwards of 30 million per year.

This is not some progressive increase that politicians may think can be solved by some step-by-step actions. They should get together and commit to spending now what it needs in the future to avoid a human catastrophe. It has been suggested that we should build new mega-cities in Canada, Scandinavia, and Siberia to accommodate these people displaced from their previous homes. China has already done this and has many new migrant cities in various locations throughout its land. I suggest that if these billions of people are not accommodated somewhere they will overwhelm the present western countries.

I wonder what Scotland would look like with a population of upwards of 30 million? Water, health provision, energy supply, food and land for housing are only some of the potential problems that would arise. Governments need to look to the future and plan for 20-50 years hence. They need to start discussions now on what they are going to do and how they are going to pay for what is needed. I do not hear that they are doing anything like this but rather they are talking about being carbon-neutral by some date in the future. Now is already too late to talk about carbon neutrality.

Typically, people would rather put effort into tackling the certainty of today’s problems rather than preventing the probability of even more catastrophic conditions in future. Politicians are no different but putting a sticking plaster now on trying to solve what they perceive to be tomorrow’s climate problems is the result of a failure to understand how serious a situation we are in.
Colin Gunn, Glasgow

Fixing climate must come first

ANDY Maciver's article ("The Queen’s real legacy may be harmony over the constitution", The Herald, September 23) claims that "the unionist fraternity fails to understand that there are two sides to the coin of an independence referendum". However, what the article does not highlight is that neither side factors in the impact of COP26 on changes to the constitution.

Independence results in a decade of austerity thus extending the cost of living crisis in Scotland until at least 2035, whilst a Green Revolution to meet COP26 targets comes with a debt of £150 billion and that is a debt that is equal to 100% of Scottish GDP. Holyrood has failed to outline how these two policies can be implemented in tandem with the current state of the economy.

The wildfires bringing death and destruction to Europe and river levels running low in water flow from the Tiber to the Tay should be a warning that independence is irrelevant until we fix the climate, yet media debate is stuck in a groove between remain or leave without a single analysis of the impact of COP26 over the next 30 years.

Time for Holyrood to face up to the costs of saving the planet and provide the relevant information to the people of Scotland.
Ian Moir, Castle Douglas

Dunoon shows the way ahead

I AM certain that any observer of Scottish education will feel uplifted by the reported work in Dunoon Grammar school ("Rural Scots school’s unique lessons are a global leader”, The Herald, September 23).

The successful form of experiential learning being promoted by Dunoon Grammar through direct and relevant involvement reveals why the term "book learning" is so often used in the pejorative sense. The young people engaged in this form of hands-on learning are helping to undermine those people in society who believe that an individual's personal identity and their academic study profile are one and the same.

I hope that the eminent work at Dunoon Grammar will spark a growing movement towards producing and rewarding young people who are distinguished for their capability and skill rather than just the trick of cramming to pass exams simply to get into a university.

Being on the short leet for one of the “World’s Best School” prizes is something I hope that Shirley-Anne Somerville, our Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills, takes full notice of when forming her new Scottish assessment authority. The instruments of assessment of pupil performance should have a context, and be appropriate to, the circumstances of the pupil’s learning and I feel that the example of Dunoon Grammar reinforces the argument for greater teacher assessment input.
Bill Brown, Milngavie

Hoi there

WHY do some correspondents writing for, and to, The Herald fall into the trap of writing "the hoi polloi"? "Hoi" means "the" so there is no need to say '"the hoi polloi" (the masses, common people.)

Not a few members of those masses, including this one, must also be annoyed by the use of "weaved" instead of "woven" (past tense of the the verb "to weave".) Ah well. It is part of that thing called the rich tapestry of life; or something like it.
Thelma Edwards, Kelso

Letters should not exceed 500 words. We reserve the right to edit submissions.