Readers' letters: Buying carbon credits is greenwashing at its worst

The companies that buy carbon credits need to take a good look at themselves. The purchase of offset carbon credits by large corporates strikes me as nothing more than a licence to pollute.

Such companies should be doing more at source to cut their greenhouse gases. But the eco-kudos of improving genuine, anti-pollution credentials costs a lot more than the eco-kudos of buying carbon offsets. This is a public relations exercise to save money and to excuse dubious and/or inadequate anti-pollution practice. After the greenwashing, the environmental and ethical laundry belonging to these companies will still retain the scent of hypocrisy.

David Muir, Edinburgh

Climate hysteria

I suppose that it was inevitable that there would be a crowd of believers in “climate change” (an irrefutable part of the natural cycle of climate on earth) telling us how the fires in California were the result of the planet warming.

Let’s suspend any investigation into previous fires in that part of the USA, Christine Jardine seems to be saying (Scotsman, 13 January) because the variations in temperature around Christmas are frightening her. She need not worry. Being older than her by a fair margin, I can assure her that such things are perfectly normal. And, yes, it does get mild in winter and it also gets very, very cold.

She should consdider this, though. Reports about such fires as have been happening in California are to be found in many newspaper reports from years past. For example, fires in August 1911, “raging for the past week in the Los Angeles national forest”; In July 1889 “the entire business portion of the town of Bakersfield, California has been destroyed by fire”; in November 1933, “a serious brush fire which is...already beyond control. Roads are choked with traffic through residents fleeing from the fire” and in November 1961 “the worst fire in Southern California’s history raged out of control last night”.

Peter Hopkins, Edinburgh

Bright ideas

Further to Ewen Peters’ letter (January 17) saying modern LED headlights are too bright, I regard them as a safety feature.

In the ’70s and ’80s tungsten lights were yellowish and dim. Halogen vastly improved this with, as I well recall, rally cars using four Cibie Super Oscars in addition to flood the road ahead with white light. LEDs are further step forward projecting beams further, brighter, and in a controlled pattern and are a godsend on country roads.

I suspect that motorists who complain about modern lighting haven’t acquired the habit of looking past the oncoming headlights; if you do look straight at them you will be dazzled. The RAC advises: “To prevent yourself from being dazzled, never look directly at the headlights of other cars. The glare can temporarily impair your vision, making you more likely to panic and lose your bearings; look to the left-hand side of the road.”

The main cause of dazzle is motorists either not dipping their lights as a car approaches, or not adjusting their headlights when loaded, although most modern cars now do this automatically. All French cars used to have yellow headlight bulbs supposedly to prevent dazzle, but this was abandoned as research showed it made little difference except the yellow beams did not illuminate the road ahead as well as clear lenses. Some newer cars are fitted with auto-dipping headlights, but I have found these quite unreliable and prefer manual control to dip the lights well in advance of the approaching vehicle.

Something not mentioned is dazzle from cyclists’ LED lights – some riders seem to delight in focusing their lights straight at drivers’ eye level even in broad daylight.

William Loneskie, Lauder, Scottish Borders

Quick quick slow

Surely, only under the incompetence that is the SNP could a review of how to accelerate completion of the A9 dualling, conclude that the project would take longer and cost more (Scotsman, 16 January).

Let’s have another review aimed at how to slow things down. That would surely conclude the project could be completed faster and more cheaply.

Brian Barbour, Berwick-upon-Tweed, Northumberland

Language matters

Our language has suffered many a blow in its journey from Old to Modern English. There have also been linguistic outrages which are barely a century old, such as “A Return to Normalcy” under Warren Harding in the 1920 US Presidential campaign. Normality, luckily, did not disappear from the tongue. Then, of course, we had the famous "All Shook Up” from Elvis Presley. Perhaps ongoing sales of milk shakes helped to maintain the standard past participle in everyday speech, as did James Bond's Vodka Martini, which is “shaken, not stirred”.

Then, there is that awful new word “snuck" which has recently crept in, and people who should know better actually use it. “Sneaked” is still correct. “Snuck” makes me think of handkerchiefs. “Dove” (rhyming with “clove”) rather than “dived” shows the American love of creating strong verbs where there are none.

It is not only the US which is responsible for crimes against the English language, however. In Bonnie Scotland, we have the joy of the Dundonian word “jamp”, which is the local past tense of the verb “to jump”.

Hot on the heels of this linguistic gem, is a new one on me which sprang from the pages of The Scotsman yesterday. In an article entitled “Quest to find more than 30 Stone of Destiny fragments”, you referred to the events surrounding Prince Charles succeeding to the throne, following the death of his mother, the late Queen. The article tells us that “when Charles was coronated in 2023, it was taken to London”. “Coronated”? I thought that we “crowned” our monarchs.

Still, it may be a new addition to the language! Check the list of new coinages later in the year.

Andrew HN Gray, Edinburgh

Literary greats

Now that the Scottish Qualifications Authority has removed the plays of William Shakespeare from the Curriculum for Excellence, they might like to put George Orwell’s 1984 down the memory hole too. After all, as Orwell observed: “Who controls the past, controls the future. Who controls the present, controls the past.”

Alternatively, the SQA could focus on introducing our young people to those writers, such as Shakespeare and Orwell, who represent the very best of the inheritance of all English-speaking people.

Otto Inglis, Crossgates, Fife

NHS morale

First Minister’s Questions (FMQs) this week concentrated on NHS performance in Scotland and a Royal College of Nursing survey.

The First Minister informed the Chamber that during December admissions had more than doubled and we are currently experiencing a surge of flu cases, obviously putting enormous pressure on our NHS provision.

NHS staffing has increased by 26 per cent under the SNP in government and the NHS budget has continued to increase year-on-year.

MSPs from opposition parties keep telling us that the NHS here in Scotland is broken, it is needing reform, it is needing change. Well, those opposition parties here in Scotland have had the opportunity to bring forth their ideas for reform and change, they could be leading by example, because those very opposition parties have been in government at Westminster, which means they are in full control of the NHS in England which is experiencing the very same pressures as the NHS here in Scotland.

What impact is the opposition parties’ continually questioning the First Minister on the performance of the NHS in Scotland doing for the morale of our very hard-pressed and dedicated NHS workers?

Catriona C Clark, Falkirk

End the killing

A mere two days before the planned ceasefire in Gaza, among the 78 people killed by Israeli strikes were a Christian Aid humanitarian worker, his wife and two young children, just four more in the tragic statistic of over 46,000 slain.

Even with the ceasefire, there is neither guarantee nor likelihood of peace. How could there be, when Gaza itself will be subjected to an Israeli army occupying presence? Benjamin Netanyahu himself is under pressure from the ultra religious right in the governing coalition, to allow the war to continue, 'until the job is done'.

Ian Petrie, Edinburgh

Borrowed time

We welcome that a fresh bid has been made to remove Church of England bishops from the House of Lords through the hereditary peers bill. A different unhelpful amendment suggests adding other faith representatives: an equally divisive idea making for more religious interference in parliament. Why should the self-preserving and illiberal and antiscientific views of some religious leaders bring any more wisdom to the table than those of football team managers or gardening clubs?

It is only a matter of time before the privileged seats of this unrepresentative diminishing minority are removed along with those of hereditary peers.

Neil Barber, Edinburgh Secular Society

Write to The Scotsman

We welcome your thoughts – NO letters submitted elsewhere, please. Write to [email protected] including name, address and phone number – we won't print full details. Keep letters under 300 words, with no attachments, and avoid 'Letters to the Editor/Readers’ Letters' or similar in your subject line – be specific. If referring to an article, include date, page number and heading.