Sir - Michael Tyce (Letters, November 2) suggests that the scientific consensus on global warming and mankind's culpability for accelerating climate change is wrong. His implication is that urgent action is not needed to reduce harmful greenhouse gas emissions. He is the one that is wrong.

The scientific and political consensus on climate change is not the result of brainwashing or incorrect science, but of extensive deliberation by many of the world's finest minds. It is the nature of science is that proof in complex areas of prediction is elusive and that the details of forecasts will change. It is also the nature of science that all interpretations are contested. But the fact that science cannot deliver absolute proof of manmade climate change does not absolve our society from the need to act urgently on global warming.

If we allow our society to continue to belch out greenhouse gases and consume finite natural resources at the current rate, we will condemn future generations to a life of uncertainty and scarcity. Those that urge us not to act will secure the reputation of our generation as the most selfish in history for ignoring warnings about the way we are abusing the ecosystem and planet.

Even if the scientific consensus is wrong, we will each need to use fewer resources to accommodate our burgeoning national and world population.

It is time to act quickly and time to act with resolve. We need to change the way we think about energy and natural resources, and use them wisely not wastefully. Otherwise the epitaph for our generation will be chiselled into history as "they knew everything but cared for nothing."

Andy Boddington, Clun, Shropshire