YP Letters: Council right to back fight to save our planet

I WAS pleased and relieved to hear that Calderdale Council voted to declare a climate emergency, in line with Bradford and Kirklees.

The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has warned that the human race has 12 years to make the necessary changes to limit the rise in global temperatures to 1.5C.

Science tells us that climate change is mainly caused by the increase in CO2 due to human activity, burning coal, oil and gas.

That climate change is really happening is obvious after we have seen abrupt changes to weather patterns all over the world including flooding of the Calder Valley in December 2015; massive reduction in the areas of the polar ice caps with more melting each summer; and extreme summer temperatures leading to significant loss of human life in forest fires in the United States.

The Government needs to provide the resources and powers so that local authorities can make their contribution to carbon reduction targets.

The resolution was supported by Labour and Liberal Democrats. Unfortunately no Conservatives voted for the motion, though this issue is the most important facing the human race.