I must have been one of many people terrified by Henry Mance’s FT magazine article “The utterly plausible case that climate change makes London much colder” (January 11).
In it he describes the very real spectre that the currents known as the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (Amoc), part of the Gulf Stream, will fail within the next 100 years, leading to catastrophic climate change. And as a result, the UK could enter a new ice age.
I am one of a privileged generation. But I am paralysed by the thought of the dangers my children and grandchildren could face, not so very far into the future.
What, if anything, can I do? A marginal reduction in my carbon footprint feels like virtue signalling and a drop in the ocean. I do a bit, but have not so far made any real lifestyle sacrifices. I am writing this on a plane! So I need to work out how to change my behaviour meaningfully.
However, it is government and those in power that have to take the lead for significant change to happen, and those changes must then be adopted worldwide.
The most powerful person in the world right now is Elon Musk.
So please Elon, put your weight and genius behind the enormously important project of preventing failure of the Gulf Stream. Taking a lead in tackling Amoc could mean that you fall out with Trump, but that is likely to happen sooner or later.
Judith Derbyshire
Glastonbury, Somerset, UK