Last Post: COP27, Bowen, nuclear and Stuff the British Gave Us

Astute readers of the letters page will have homed in on recently retired professor of geophysics Michael Asten’s very surprising comment (Letters, 7/11) pointing out “there is no reason to believe CO2 is the main driver of current (climate) change”. Australians faced with 50 per cent-plus increases in power costs might wonder why we are therefore urgently up-ending our entire economy if CO2 is not the main culprit.

Craig Mills, Kew, Vic

Of course the Chinese will keep building coal-fired power stations, as they need the power to make windmills and solar panels to sell to mugs like us using our minerals.

Philip Squire, Ashgrove, Qld

I hope Chris Bowen flies economy to COP27. Economy-class passengers have a much lower carbon footprint. He needs to set an example.

Dennis Walker, North Melbourne, Vic

Why are climate change conferences invariably held in glamorous resorts, not in impoverished, energy-poor places where the push for renewables is meaningless?

Roseanne Schneider, Toowoomba, Qld

Graham Pinn (Letters, 8/11), when the UN Secretary-General warns “we are on a highway to climate hell with our foot on the accelerator” a prudent person should at least consider the need for change.

Lesley Walker, Northcote, Vic

Graham Lloyd, although in Egypt, which is predominantly in Africa, Sharm el-Sheikh and the Sinai Peninsula where the resort is located are in Asia.

John Dorman, Toowoomba, Qld

To your excellent list of Stuff the British Gave Us, Shane Hughes (Last Post, 8/11), may we add pop music? Where to start, where to end?

Greg Humphries, Townsville, Qld

Thank you, Shane Hughes, for your elegant riposte to the ABC’s Stuff the British Stole. I have been finding it hard to think of commenting without being labelled a whinging Pom.

Sheila Hull, Margaret River, WA

Plutocracy by stealth. It seems if you have money you can influence the democratic process in ways the ordinary voter could never achieve. Lavishly funding candidates, stacking company boards – an exciting game to play, I’m sure, but a game exclusively reserved for those with money to throw around. True democracy is the loser.

Don McGregor, Baulkham Hills, NSW

Are we now in a scamdemic?

John Ball, Galston, NSW