I WOULD like to share a few thoughts on global warming and sustainable energy.

There is only one sustainable source of energy, and that is the sun. The sun is a nuclear-driven fireball - but speak the taboo statement that nuclear fuel is the only truly sustainable source of energy and one gets shouted down with howls of derision by less well-informed eco-warriors.

Why blight a picturesque landscape with huge inefficient turbines? They don't work when it's too windy, and they don't work with too little wind.

Most migrating birds use coastlines as navigational aids. So when the wader, geese and swan populations start to decline, one will not need to travel too far to find the blood on the blades and decapitated birds lying in the fields around.

Has anyone worked out how much carbon is output by the world and how much is taken back in? I have flown over the rainforests of the Amazon and Indonesia and witnessed destruction by illegal logging and slash-and-burn farming, which has wiped out two-thirds of some rainforest areas.

And has anyone calculated the effect of methane vented directly to the atmosphere? Methane is 21 times more damaging than CO2.

The amount of methane generated by wildlife is colossal, yet nothing is mentioned about that or waste tip venting of unburnt methane to the atmosphere.

Global warming is the best thing that has happened to environmental concerns - my word, how the money has rolled in. It has even got the politicians hopping.

Do not forget that less than 2000 years ago the UK was a major grape growing region for the Romans, and 30,000 years ago one could walk from what is now London to Paris and not get one's feet wet. We haven't caused those huge shifts in climate change.

Who was it that shouted, the Artic ice caps will melt and all the coastal cities will drown? The Arctic icecap floats on water. If it melts the result is no significant increase in sea level. Need proof? Get one glass of water and float some ice cubes in it. Measure the level of the water, leave to melt and observe the level after.

Ainslie Casson

Church Walks

Westhoughton