Climate change is caused by consumption

Readers write about consumption, road safety, islands and insurance premiums

A reader says our consumption rate is to blame for climate change. Mona Al-Marzooqi / The National

I refer to your explainer, Living with climate change (March 31).

I think governments need to influence their people to change their consumption habits, which are the actual reason for climate change.

I don’t see much sense in the Paris Agreement, or with storing seeds to support our agriculture when climate change would mean that neither the soil nor the air would support those seeds to grow into crops.

Each one of us has to think about this issue. Our splurge consumption is depleting the Earth’s resources. Producing more results in more industrial waste. More industrial waste means more carbon emissions. Their effects are global.

Musarat Ali, Dubai

Safety must be taken seriously

We are taught to treasure life because we only have one go at it. Therefore, I find it beyond belief that anyone would find an excuse not to give themselves every chance of having a lengthy tenure by failing to wear a seat belt (One in two Emirati drivers shun seat belts, poll finds, March 30).

Here are some questions for them:

Is it inconvenient that your family should have to spend the rest of their lives grieving for you and those who travelled in your vehicle?

Is being “safe enough” good enough for young children? Don’t you want them to be totally safe?

Isn’t it better to have a little wrinkle in your clothes than the complete mess that a road accident would create?

I think many people fail to wear seat belts because they can get away with it behind the dark-tinted windows and windscreen on their cars.

J Finnemore, Al Ain

Premiums must be linked to risk

Our insurance rates are already sky high and they keep climbing with no mitigation (Vehicle insurers should reward the good drivers, March 28)

A great step would be for the insurance companies to actually assess the risk of insuring a vehicle rather than just looking at the age of the driver, vehicle category and value.

The most basic indicator of risk is the number of kilometres a car spends on the road. How can a car that drives less than 5,000km per year be insured at the same rate as a vehicle that averages 100,000km in the year? Clearly the second one is a greater risk for insurance purposes.

Name withheld by request

Polluters ruined island getaways

I'm writing in response to the letter Can islands be opened up? (March 28).

During the time of Sheikh Zayed, most, if not all, of the islands around Abu Dhabi were open to the public to enjoy if they could get to them on private boats.

Unfortunately, the ignorance of some members of the public meant a municipal nightmare as they left their rubbish, in massive quantities, strewn all over the beautiful beaches.

That is why these islands were closed off to the public. A case, I am afraid, of some people ­ruining things for others by their careless actions.

Name withheld by request

Ban will benefit baggage thieves

In reference to

(March 23), I think the main reason this is such a problem has to do with theft.

Anyone who travels knows that valuables put into checked baggage can be stolen.

Baggage handlers in the United States have keys to Transport Security Administration-approved locks and can use them to steal. Others know some pretty smart tricks to open and close zippers that are locked.

I have not been to the UAE, so I don’t know if this is an issue there, but in many countries theft from checked baggage is common. In addition, a laptop that travels often in checked baggage will fail soon. They are not designed for the pounding, jostling and compression they will receive.

And what about the data that will be lost when the laptop is stolen from baggage or damaged by handling?

AK Tanksley, US