Dear creative friends,

Might you be interested to try and depict in some way—in a novel, play, series of poems, popular book, or whatever—a sustainable and believable world and how we might get there?

I ask because us scientists (I hesitate to call myself a scientist but will for now) are extremely worried about the future of the species. Climate change means that we are heading for catastrophe and running out of time to do anything about it. For a whole series of reasons the subject has dropped back in the public mind, and yet some scientists predict that without radical change the human species has a 50% chance of being extinct before the end of the century. more…

“Perverting the course of evidence-based policy on climate change adaptation and mitigation damages our health resilience, our economic prosperity, and our environmental stability.” (Transparency needed on donors to climate sceptic lobby, Guardian, 26.1.12)

Recently there was a freedom of information (FOI) hearing at the Information Rights Tribunal into whether to publicly reveal the funders behind Lord Lawson’s influential think tank, Global Warming Policy Foundation. Leading climate scientists, including NASA’s James Hansen, support the FoI request, as do medical leaders, including the BMJ, the Lancet, and the Climate and Health Council. Science is sceptical, and the science on climate change has been thoroughly interrogated and tested – as has the science around health and climate change (Intergovernmental Panel Climate Change): more…