Our grandchildren will not forgive us if we turn away from the climate challenge - Yorkshire Post Letters

Bill Carmichael’s latest column demands a response.

His recent enjoyable trip to one of the less hot places in Italy brings him to the conclusion that “if you fancy some sunshine then ignore the doom mongers and catastrophists and grab a bit of summer while you can. It is not going to last.”

Indeed, it won’t last, because we need to recognise that climate change requires us to think in decades, not in periods of a summer holiday.

He makes light of the 61,000 deaths in Europe due to heat last year but totally fails to consider what is happening to farming and eco-systems.

Will our current abundance of food be still there in 30 years' time? The trends are not good as we rely heavily on food from places that are failing fast.

Whilst it might be good to escape this year’s cool and wet summer for warmer climes, we need to remember that this is not a new normal with benefits for those able to choose their holiday destination on a whim.

We are just starting out on an alarming upward trend in global temperatures that will become increasingly more disruptive.

The situation is critical already for some of the world’s poorest and the emissions from our flights are impacting those who often use less energy than a large American fridge. If we run short, will we help feed these people?

Bill is happily enjoying his denial. Even that will not last, and our grandchildren will not be thanking us for ignoring the warnings of very well-informed and genuine people telling us what we would rather not hear.