Sarcastic, pointless remarks on the subject of climate change such as Revel Barker's Happy Doomsday To All Readers (January 5) do not deserve to be published.

Taking steps to mitigate climate change is a question of being realistic in the face of a plausible possibility. The so-called millennium bug was not a "prediction" but a theoretical possibility the results of which might have been disastrous - people simply took precautions to be on the safe side. Erring on the side of caution is not a question of being a "saddo" but of common sense.

Furthermore, Mr Barker"s flippant reference to "hairshirts", "doom merchants" and "global warmongers" getting it wrong highlights his monumental lack of grasp of the subject. Please note this, Mr Barker: today's occasional extremes of weather (cold or hot) are very unlikely to be manifestations of climate change for the simple reason that the effects of climate change are still far off in time; these weather conditions are still within the limits of variation of our planet's complex weather system. If climate change does occur, it will only start being felt in decades to come and not now. Put quite simply: arguing against climate change with comments about weather in the northern hemisphere "over the past month" in the context of climate change is mere stupidity.

It is now accepted on the basis of scientific calculations that climate change is a distinct possibility. It is inevitable that there has been disagreement from some quarters (possibly instigated by the oil-lobby), but the majority of well-informed people and scientists consider climate change to be too high a probability to ignore. If nothing is done now and if greenhouse gases continue to be emitted into our atmosphere at the current annual rate of six to seven billion tons, the results could be catastrophic for human and animal life on this planet if climate change does occur. It is as simple as that.

So far climate change is only writing on the wall; but it would be insanity to disregard it. We owe it to coming generations to take precautions now. If Mr Barker has children or grandchildren, then his snide remarks and misguided denial of the possibility of climate change are thoroughly irresponsible.