WORKING together the government and the rest of us should be able to put a stop to climate change but it’ll need a remarkable commitment by both groups considering the size of the problem. It’s easy to say, but it just means changing our behaviour.

However not only will there be 82,000,000 more of us each year at the current rate, but we seem determined to ignore all the evidence, and the advice, and put ourselves before our descendants. For example in 2018 there were over four billion passenger flights, one for every two of us, and since 2005 the number has increased by 70 per cent, and is still going up!

The government’s role should be to increase the income tax for those earning over £50,000, tax flying substantially and reduce the amount spent on defence by at least half. This extra income, with more from taxes on methane-producing animal meat, would allow the basic wage to be as high as the living one, which itself should be increased.

However perhaps the most significant government policy would be making public transport free. Melbourne, Boston, and from 2020, Luxembourg, show that many thousands more would use the buses, taking cars off the roads and reducing the level of CO2 significantly. Germany is also thinking about it.

While governments are making these changes the rest of us can reduce our own CO2 production, and become healthier in the process. We certainly should walk more and the roads would be safer for cycling. Garden owners certainly need at least one tree, perhaps apple or plum and their pride should be the compost heap, with garden and kitchen waste supporting the vegetables we grow.

We must all take recycling for granted and this would be helped by local firms receiving government support to enable them to re-use raw materials. Similarly our diets could be improved, with less meat, more vegetables and only those that are grown locally or haven’t arrived by air.

I would vote for such a government but you’ll need to as well.