It is easy for Carolyn Bullen to blame water companies for not coping with the flooding in Winchester High Street (Chronicle, Letters, August 15) but isn’t that overlooking the real problem which is the climate crisis? 

Global heating is being driven by the emissions of greenhouse gases mostly from burning oil, gas or coal. 

Warmer air holds more water vapour which leads to heavier rainfall. I fear this is a bit like drivers stuck in a traffic jam blaming other drivers when they themselves are part of the problem.

A common contributor to flooding is today’s trend to pave over driveways with impervious materials. But perhaps we should also consider not flying off on holiday more than once a year, if that, (flying can easily be the biggest part of one’s annual carbon footprint) and take the train instead, or the impact of driving a heavy Hampshire ‘hog-the-road’ SUV which has a very large carbon footprint just from its manufacture let alone before it is driven anywhere. 

Flooding is just one aspect of the climate crisis to which Hampshire is prone. But global heating is also responsible for high summer temperatures which adversely affect the elderly and those in poor health, and may even kill them, or droughts that affect crop yields or wildfires that can ravage our heathlands or rising sea-levels that threaten our coastal communities.

Bob Whitmarsh,
Bereweeke Avenue,
Weeke,
Winchester

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