I WELCOME the positive message from Richard Drax, in his column on 24 April, about nature's resurgence during our current almost total industrial shutdown. With road and air traffic also vastly reduced, then global carbon emissions will fall, as Mr Drax notes.

However, this temporary reprieve for Mother Earth will cease once the world comes out of lockdown and fossil fuel burning resumes in earnest.

Covid 19 will not save us from climate change catastrophe. The urgent answer, which will allow Mother Earth to recover, is to drastically cut carbon emissions by leaving most of the fossil fuels in the ground. This will entail radical changes to our economy for which our current experiences of the Corona virus pandemic may have partly prepared us.

The welcome partnership between government and scientists is proving vital in tackling the current crisis. I hope that in the future, government will continue to listen to, and act on, the urgent advice of climate scientists. If not, then Covid 19 may look like a walk in the park compared to the future impacts of climate change.

John Tomblin

Littlemoor Road

Weymouth