The best thing we can all do is not to panic. Boris Johnson wrote a great piece for The Daily Telegraph on 2 February 2006. We’ve lost our fear of hellfire and put global warming in its place said in part: “Humanity has largely lost its fear of hellfire, and yet we still hunger for a structure, a point, an eschatology, a moral counterbalance to our growing prosperity. All that is brilliantly supplied by climate change. Like all the best religions, fear of climate change satisfies our need for guilt, and self-disgust, and that eternal human sense that technological progress must be punished by the gods.” The climate has always changed. There is some evidence that we humans are making it a little warmer, although recent events suggest the consequences have been exaggerated. Nevertheless, it’s right to be cautious and plan to adapt  to heat waves and higher sea levels. The consequences aren’t all negative. There are far more excess deaths from winter cold than summer heat and in a warmer world most food crops just grow a lot better. So yes, do what seems practical and cost effective, but keep a cool head.

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