ANYONE who doubts the green movement has morphed into a millenarian cult should take a close look at Greta Thunberg. With her monotone voice and air of apocalyptic dread, she preaches a “great fire” that will punish us for our eco-sins and is reminiscent of the terrifying child prophets of the Cevennes in the late 17th century.

Climate alarmism’s Extinction Rebellion is but the latest manifestation of the haute-bourgeoisie contempt for industrialization and progress. In keeping with all millenarian movements, the extinction-obsessed green cult reserves its priestly fury for ordinary people who must be denied the pleasure of flying, driving a car or eating meat.

The Swedish Pied Piper is a patsy for green celebs. Teenagers should ignore her doomster sermons and appreciate our transformation of the planet which has enabled billions to escape poverty in all but the war-torn Middle East and endemically corrupt Africa. Even the less well-off can travel the globe and sample international cuisines.

Rev Dr John Cameron,

St Andrews

I DON’T think I’ve ever read a bigger load of tosh in The Herald than Stuart Waiton’s piece, “The cult of Greta limits our ambitions” (October 1).

This ad hominem argument is all assertion with no back-up. It doesn’t even bother to consider Ms Thunberg’s core message, that our carbon emissions are damaging the planet, and if we don’t curb them, the damage will be irreversible.

Mr Waiton calls “the cult surrounding Greta… more religious than scientific”, and yet the science is on Ms Thunberg’s side, and the scientific community overwhelmingly supports what she is saying.

Is Mr Waiton a climate change denier? We cannot tell from his piece, because he doesn’t actually discuss the issue. But if he doesn’t realise we have a problem, we can hardly expect him to come up with any creative solutions.

“Big problems are solved when we can think big,” he says. Is that scientific? He tells us not to spend our time recycling – but he doesn’t tell us why. This piece is empty. There is no thread of argument. Ms Thunberg would call it a fairy tale.

I think Greta Thunberg is very remarkable. Speaking perfect English at the United Nations, she was coruscating, incandescent, and sublime. She is like Joan of Arc. She’s even about the same age.

I used to think Jeanne d’Arc was just a piece of French mythology but now I’m not so sure. People like her do come along, about once every millennium. God bless her.

Dr Hamish Maclaren,

Thornhill,

Stirling

THE First Minister has declared a climate emergency in Scotland, yet switch on BBC Scotland and it is wall-to-wall Brexit.

The Finance Secretary claims that Brexit will result in a £9 billion hit to the Scottish economy yet the ban on 150 TWhours of gas to meet climate emergency increases energy bills by £18 billion - double the cost of Brexit.

In addition, there is an energy infrastructure debt of around £500 billion but the Minister fails to outline how an independent Scotland, struggling with up to a decade of austerity, can clear such a debt.

Ian Moir,

Castle Douglas

READING Vicky Allan’s report on dredging and trawling our seabeds for scallops (“Life after dredge. Saving our seabeds the Norwegian økosystem way”, September 29), I was reminded of humankind’s actions in the Amazon rainforest.

We are doing our best to destroy the rainforest to the extent that we are presently experiencing forest fires which we cannot extinguish.

We are never going to be happy until big business has caused the extinction of every source of food known to humankind. What are we going to do then? Eat dollar bills, pound notes, gold bars?

Greta Thunberg says in her speech to the UN, “All you can talk about is money and fairytales of eternal economic growth”. It is reminiscent of the Daleks - ‘Exterminate! Exterminate!’

But we can’t argue with Elspeth Macdonald, of the Scottish Fisheries Federation, who says, “This is an important industry with many jobs attached ... there is room for both types of fishing”.

I would argue that there is no room for dredging. But who am I to argue since I am vegetarian, and won’t eat fish because its contaminated with plastic and other chemicals?

Margaret Forbes,

Kilmacolm

POOR Greta Thunberg. She has been criticised and ridiculed but we should at least give her credit for standing up in public and saying what she believes in. Precious few of us are brave enough to do that. We prefer to sit on our hands and jeer at those with the courage of their convictions.

M Greene, Edinburgh