People are the solution, not the problem

Mike McGrath (Feedback, September SR) repeats Malthus’s mistake in asserting that the cause of climate change is the number of people alive.

There is a direct link between increasing greenhouse gas emission and increasing industrial production due to the use of fossil fuels. However it is perfectly possible to decarbonise all production in a completely renewable economy which could support far more people without creating greenhouse gases in significant quantities.

Every one of us can be part of the solution; it is the politics of our rulers and the capitalist system that is the problem. We need system change to eliminate climate change.