The climate crisis is still ongoing. Once the pandemic is over, let’s not return to business as usual

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The coronavirus lockdown gives us time to reflect on what type of world we want. All the carbon dioxide we emit to the atmosphere not only increases the global temperature but accumulates, speeding up the climate crisis for our children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Globalisation is seen as the new world order, but information and goods should travel, not us.

We shall have to stop using all hydrocarbons for fuel, so planes must either be battery powered for short hops or hydrogen for longer journeys. Hydrogen can be made from renewable energy, but this form of energy is also required to replace energy presently supplied by fossil fuels. It is likely, therefore, that flying will shrink to a fraction of the current rate. For disease, air travel has transformed a virus outbreak in China into a world pandemic. Future pandemics could follow.

So now is the time for change. Frivolous hen and stag parties to distant lands should cease. Holidaying using rail or bus rather than flying should be the norm. Cruise ships, now seen as air polluting, disease incubation factories, should be discouraged. International sporting teams should travel to international sporting fixtures, but not fans. They can watch at home. Homes will be heated by electricity from renewables, with good insulation and sealing to minimise energy consumption.

Bikes, electric scooters, electric cars and electric lorries will replace fossil fuel-powered transport. Imported manufactures should be repairable, to allow a proportion of restorative manufacture back to the UK. A shift from spending on consumer durables and leisure activities to funding the social care sector will be needed to pay decent wages for staff, if UK nationals are to be recruited.

The coronavirus has resulted in our transport infrastructure shrinking worldwide, tour firms in meltdown, cruises cancelled and pubs, cinemas and restaurants closed down. Technical fixes such as industrial carbon capture are unlikely to save us. Once the pandemic is over, let’s not return to a business-as-usual, live-only-for-today lifestyle.

Resurrecting our economy is easier if it starts from a low-level post-coronavirus, rather than from our usual hectic world. Let’s fast-track our way from a major downturn to a sustainable future. We will be en route for a new and exciting sustainable future, initiated by a tiny piece of protein. Indeed, we may thank the coronavirus for bringing us to our senses.

Bob Pringle
Aberdeen

Good housekeeping

Over the past week, my wife and I have visited two national chain supermarkets and the food hall of a national department store. All were experiencing shortages of the usual suspects – loo roll, pasta, flour etc. But their approach to maintaining their stores was very different. The food hall looked completely normal, with very few gaps in the shelves. One of the supermarkets had large gaps, but was clearly doing its best to maintain normality elsewhere. The other supermarket looked like a bomb site. Not merely gaps on shelves but seemingly random distribution of remaining stock.

Maintaining at least a semblance of normality in the shops reassures customers, whereas the “bomb site” approach tends to promote panic and stockpiling. The irresponsible and irrational behaviour of customers who panic buy and stockpile is causing a major problem for grocery stores but they, in turn, have a responsibility to discourage panic buying. Good housekeeping is very effective.

Bernard Cudd
Morpeth

Higher taxes

The government’s economic package to protect companies and wages (essential for maintaining law and order) and to enhance the NHS and social care will have to be paid for once the Covid-19 pandemic is over. When that time comes, and in the future, instead of quibbling about paying higher taxes – or trying to avoid or evade them – we should realise that there are much more important things in life, such as life instead.

Roger Hinds
Coulsdon

Britain seems to be celebrating the government’s Covid-19 response. At the risk of being out of step, again I ask with huge incredulity WHY?

The countries that have this almost under control – China and South Korea – are those using targeted isolation and quarantine (which is different) and testing, testing and retesting.

Why is everyone so keen on Boris Johnson’s Bad Dad tactic? “Here’s a lot of money –​ go away for a while...”

Amanda Baker
Edinburgh