I DO worry about the current trend for buying high-powered "statement" cars and large SUVs.

At a time when we should be cutting greenhouse gases, these vehicles wantonly guzzle far too much fuel and pour well above average exhaust emissions into our atmosphere. In 2018 this group came second in a scientific assessment of the highest contributors to the increase in global CO2 emissions. We all need cars at times but I consider this choice of transport is mainly due to vanity or a statement of status, not good attributes to have. There are genuine exceptions for their need, but at this time of global crisis their ownership could be seen as being anti-social.

Slow-moving vehicles in our towns are contributing to the growth in childhood asthma. Car exhausts are perfectly placed to eject fumes at pushchair height; young toddlers get the full blast, so don’t sit in traffic with the engine running. This CO2 then rises into the atmosphere and the global cumulative affect has been slowly breaking down the fragile protective shield which protects our planet from harmful solar rays. The consequences are not visible and seemingly ignored by most car drivers, but we are putting ourselves under attack from a foe of our own making.

Electric cars are coming if you are able to afford one, but without the public infrastructure for charging batteries there are many problems ahead. The mining and production of lithium for the batteries also causes massive pollution; poisoned local water supplies and polluted air quality are the consequences for poor communities living nearby. The only winners are the mining companies plus the governments of mainly South American countries and uncaring investors who take advantage of this new cash-cow. The only answer is to have less individual vehicle ownership and a coherent public transport system where we all share the emissions. Will that ever happen? Not with a government willing to spend £106 billion on one rail line as the rest of the country puts up with overcrowded trains and poor bus services!

My views on climate change are clear but few people are prepared to listen seriously. Greta Thunberg is an equally worried teenager (unlike myself) who is not afraid of speaking truth to power. Her concern for our planet puts adults to shame.

I cannot understand why people deny the reasons for climate change in the face of overwhelming scientific data. The weather experiences we have had locally, the images worldwide showing storms, floods, famine and devastating wildfires outside the normal expected parameters, are totally un-deniable.

Please don’t wait for politicians to take action on their words of sympathy; it will not happen while there are costs involved or profits to be made. Listen to David Attenborough.

Major countries will not achieve the goals set for themselves in last year’s Paris Agreement talking shop, much as they avoided taking action after the Kyoto Protocol in 1992. That’s almost three decades of doing nothing and recently capped by Donald Trump washing his hands of the problems which his country is helping to create.

The fact is that it is down to all of us to think about our own particular lifestyle and the effect this may have on others, especially the more vulnerable people in society. Do not ignore this crisis; it is happening now at a dangerous level. Please listen to the children and take your own personal action to prevent pollution, right now.

Roy Wilcock

Kendal