The recent storms in Cumbria that caused such devastating flooding and misery to thousands of people would probably once have been described as an act of God. Today it is called climate change and is attributed to human activity.

The Earth's climate has been changing since the beginning of time and will continue to do so. It is only 5,000 years or so since the last glaciers disappeared from the UK and that timescale in the life of our planet is like the blink of an eye. What has taken place since then is climate change.

It may well be that that human activity is contributing to these weather events but climate change is not something that has just started. Human activity did not cause the ice age to end and our glaciers to disappear, so what did?

If climate change is solely down to human activity then the cure is quite simple, alter our way of life and our demands on fossil fuels. That will never happen for political and economic reasons.

Action to protect planet Earth is not high on the list of priorities of any politicians. That's why in Westminster the Green Party only have one MP.

Digby C. Hodgson

Lyth