RYEDALE District Council is right in its recent decision to look hard at what it could do to limit climate changing emissions, which is something we all should be doing.

The latest report from the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) pulls no punches.

We must keep global temperature rise to no more than 1.5 degrees C above pre-industrial times, which is not impossible but will require change and what’s more, we must act quickly, having only 12 years left to become substantially zero carbon.

There are many benefits to living a low-carbon lifestyle but more help and encouragement in making the transition needs to come from local government and particularly national government.

Our Government has made significant greenhouse gas emission cuts in the last two to three decades largely by cutting coal use and may well meet its next carbon budget but it’s currently well off course to meet its later commitments.

Fracked shale gas with its associated CO2 and methane emissions to the atmosphere cannot be accommodated within the 1.5 degree limit.

Renewables’ development must be speeded up and effective measures introduced to conserve heat and energy in homes and businesses as well as measures involving land use.

Mega construction projects such as HS2 and Heathrow’s additional runway need to be abandoned and proposed new roadbuilding schemes need to be re-evaluated.

Let’s heed the IPCC’s stark but not discouraging warning and rise to the challenge of transforming the way we live without delay – for everyone’s future.

Josephine Downs, Swinton

Shocked by change

AFTER nearly 16 years in Kirkbymoorside, I am shocked at how things are changing. Three main issues:

1. The disgusting eyesore that is now the old council yard in Manor Vale Lane. Why has the council not enforced the prohibition on storage there? A load of portable cabins and dilapidated buildings in poor condition now even provide shelter for drug users, necessitating visits by police to try to catch them. Why not make the landowners tidy it up? I walk by it every day.

2. Speeding traffic up and down Swineherd Lane causes danger and alarm to innocent pedestrians and dog walkers. Why don’t the police and Ravenswick owners take effective action to prevent the lane being a race track?

3. The subject of the recent tagging around the town. This is what we moved from London to get away from?

Action please.

Fran Mason, Kirkbymoorside

No milk please

I’VE just read an article about hedgehogs in your newspaper October 31.

Sadly there was no mention that hedgehogs are lactose intolerant and should never be fed bread and milk, it can kill them quite quickly. Cat food is good and just water.

These little chaps need our help as numbers are on the decline.

Christine Keller, Harton

Call for frack ban

WE see MP Kevin Hollinrake has now joined the Conservative Environment Network.

If so, he should now discourage and call for a ban on fracking as that would help the environment for a start.

Jarvis Browning, Fadmoor

Remember animals

THIS November marks 100 years since the end of the First World War.

On this anniversary, it’s so important that we remember the people and animals that lost their lives during this terrible conflict.

More than 16 million horses, donkeys and other animals were made to serve during the war – transporting everything from ammunition and messages to food rations and supplies.

They hauled guns and pulled ambulances, while cavalry horses often led the charge on the frontline.

They faced unimaginable horrors – and, tragically, nine million of these animals were killed.

As we stop to remember those who suffered and died a century ago, we must also not forget that animals continue to be innocent victims in brutal conflicts across the world today.

In recent years, SPANA has worked in war zones – from Kosovo and Iraq to Afghanistan – to provide urgent veterinary treatment to animals in severe distress.

As we commemorate Armistice Day, it is a sad reality that this appalling suffering is not a distant memory, consigned to history.

But while there are animals in desperate need, during times of war and peace, it is vital that help is on hand for them.

Geoffrey Dennis, chief executive of SPANA (Society for the Protection of Animals Abroad)