The threat to our climate is still not being taken seriously enough - Yorkshire Post Letters

It is understandable if some readers of The Yorkshire Post think that there remains any doubt about whether the climate crisis is being caused by humans burning fossil fuels as letters from a very small band of climate deniers are still being published.

However, your readers who do care about the environment, and who worry for current and future generations due to the existential threat of climate breakdown may be heartened to hear that they are not alone.

More people than you might think care about climate change, but many believe they are in the minority in thinking that way. A series of recent studies have found that between 80 and 89 per cent of the world’s population want to see strong action being taken by their Governments to tackle the climate crisis.

It is nearly 10 years since the Paris agreement, with its acknowledgement that we needed to keep within 1.5 0C of warming above pre-industrial levels. In 2015 warming was at 0.9 0C. Last year saw unprecedented global temperatures, so that 2024 became the first year with an average temperature clearly exceeding 1.5°C above the pre-industrial level.

Multiple global records were broken, for greenhouse gas levels, and for both air temperature and sea surface temperature, contributing to extreme events, including floods, heatwaves and wildfires.

But despite this, and with the huge majority of people globally who want much more to be done, it would seem that most mainstream politicians, and much of the media, are still not taking the threat seriously.

Misinformation and misconceptions continue to be peddled about the climate and biodiversity crises, and the actions required, and Governments are simply not doing enough.

Those in power need to hear that there is a huge majority who want a greener and fairer world. A new project called the 89 per cent project has been launched between dozens of news outlets across the world.

Perhaps The Yorkshire Post could join it: your Editorials and many opinion columns would indicate that you do not support the dangerous opinions of the climate deniers and those opposed to pursuing net zero.