### Reader’s Letter to The Guardian, 22nd March 2025 ###
Dear Editor,
I read Fiona Harvey’s very sobering report on retreating glaciers (The Guardian, 21st March 2025, link below) and certainly agree that this puts the world at extreme peril. But the thing that struck me is that the Guardian repeatedly publishes excellent reports on the state of the planet (climate, air-quality, oceans, health, etc.) but seems to fail to make the most important connection which is that it is our lifestyle and extreme consumer-centric demand which drives the damage.
For me the obvious further conclusion that we need to make is that we, western society, need to scale back our worst excesses. For example, why not simply keep Heathrow* closed? Or at least not build more runways. And forget about electric or self-driving cars and instead switch to public transport and pedal-bicycles. Then, when it comes to trade, start to source many more things seasonally and close-to-home so that excessive freight-routes are made obsolete. Maybe also start to repair and re-use (rather than recycle) a lot more than we do now.
It’s not rocket-science but it seems to me that we simply don’t want to consider the blindingly obvious.
PS: * It was heartening to hear how local residents enjoyed the silence during the Heathrow shut-down.
Yours,
Alan Mitcham
Link to original article: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/mar/20/glacier-meltdown-risks-food-and-water-supply-of-2bn-people-says-un
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