'Why we need to recognise that humans are the most destructive creature on the planet' - letter

If we’re going to find a cure for Covid-19 and racism, and ultimately live together in peace and harmony, we first need to recognise that humans are the most destructive creature on the planet.

The most unifying message I’ve seen in respect of the killing of George Floyd is ‘if all lives mattered we wouldn’t need to say black lives matter’.

And, the most unifying message in respect of Covid-19 is ‘we might all be weathering the same storm, but we’re not all in the same boat’, said by Dr Zubaida Haque, Interim Director of Runnymede Trust.

However, while we’re fighting to find a cure for Covid-19 and racism, global temperatures/sea levels are rising, and storms are becoming more frequent.

We’ve seen Covid-19 deaths rise and fall, but with global warming, basic science says rising temperatures will never fall.

As a result of the pandemic, our air is cleaner and carbon dioxide emissions have plummeted, and might have briefly slowed global warming.

But given the life of Earth, it effectively amounts to a millisecond.

The protesters who pulled down the statue of slave trader Edward Colston have been described as lawless vandals.

What about lawless drivers? Since the birth of the motorcar, they’ve destroyed countless lives, and the authorities allow it to continue.

Hence, just as we have white supremacy, we have car supremacy.

And, much like we have white people hating black people, we have drivers hating cyclists, largely because they “don’t pay road tax”, with many newspapers/magazines having published the fact.

In order for the government to get its lockdown instructions adhered to, it has relied on ‘common sense’.

But, with instructions like ‘speed limits are a maximum, not minimum’ and ‘keep Britain tidy’ being largely ignored, doesn’t it prove that much of the UK lacks common sense?

And, if the government had common sense, it would make it unquestionably clear that so-called road tax – abolished by Winston Churchill – is a tax on emissions.

Also, just as they are relying on the best of technology to beat Covid-19 and cancer, they would also rely on speed limiters to stop drivers exceeding speed limits, thereby saving police time, and turning our roads into a ‘level playing field’, with equal safety for ALL users.

For no amount of protesting will stop sea levels rising.

Allan Ramsay

Radcliffe,

Greater Manchester