Alok Sharma is one of the few in our parliament who is aware that global ecological collapse is now well under way (“As Europe burns, climate chief warns: I may quit if new PM dumps net zero plan”, News). Showing his emotion at Cop26 revealed that his motivations are more profound than the usual desire for profit and personal status.
A recent paper by the UN Commons Cluster is urging that we need to rise above petty party political differences to fully address the escalating climate and ecological collapse. These existential crises are a global threat: if we cannot cooperate within our own borders, how can we provide worthy leadership to the rest of the world? I would like to see an emergency cross-party government established in the UK to begin to address the reality of ecological collapse. Tragically, our pursuit of GDP growth encourages us to increase all three of the key drivers of environmental damage: population, affluence and technology. We urgently need a new direction.
Barbara Williams
Long Hanborough, Oxfordshire
