Donald Trump’s attitude on climate is echoed by Western leaders on other pressing global social issues

It comes as no surprise that US President Donald Trump is about to ditch the Paris agreement on climate change. This deals a major blow to efforts intended to curb greenhouse gas emissions and avert devastating damage on humanity, the environment and the economy.

However, Western leaders who are taken aback by this decision should ponder the repercussions of their unwillingness, ineptitude or inability to influence global events that lead to poverty, death, destitution, extremism, radicalism, terrorism, mass migration, lethal but preventable and avoidable diseases, civil war and human rights transgressions, with severe impacts on human health and dignity as well as environmental health.

Dr Munjed Farid Al Qutob
London, NW2

Donald Trump is reportedly planning to take major steps to wipe out Barack Obama’s climate change record. Accelerating fossil fuel production on federal lands and sidelining climate considerations could lead to higher emissions of the greenhouse gases driving climate change and complicate a global effort to curb the world’s carbon output. Trump has repeatedly questioned whether climate change is underway and emphasised that he is determined to deliver for the voters in coal country who helped him win the Oval Office.

Hmm. Goodbye World.

Barbara MacArthur
Cardiff

The Independent is quite right to highlight that environmental issues have received insufficient attention in the UK general election campaign so far, but wrong to suggest that only the Green Party appears to be taking the matter seriously. It’s a weakness of our democratic system that all the parties produce substantial documents setting out their manifestoes, but only a minority of the electorate bother to read beyond the few issues picked up by the media. The Liberal Democrats fought hard for an enlightened attitude towards the environment while in coalition with the Tories, and their manifesto for this election, which can be read on the party’s website, contains a major section on green issues, including almost 40 policy proposals.

Ken Gofton
Tonbridge

Your editorial claims that it is only the Green Party in this coming General Election that places green energy as an issue. However, the SNP also places a continuing commitment to alternative energy sources high on its agenda. Perhaps you have forgotten the significant strides we have made in this area in Scotland – or do we not count?

CA Milne
West Linton, Scottish Borders

I have never been especially political. I have voted in every general election that I have been able to vote in and, generally, I have voted Liberal or Liberal Democrat because I couldn’t associate with the policies of the two main parties. More often than not, I knew that in the bizarre first past the post system we operate in this country, this was a wasted vote. But that didn’t bother me; I had carried out my democratic right to vote, and that was that.

This election, however, is the most important election in my lifetime. The issues at stake will affect the British economy, the NHS, our education system and our social care system for at least the next two generations. It is absolutely imperative that I (and we all) vote in a meaningful way.

My MP has informed he is a dedicated supporter of Conservative policy, including the “no deal is better than a bad deal” attitude towards leaving the European Union. Therefore, for the first time in my life, I will be voting Labour because the Labour candidate has the best chance of beating the Conservative candidate. I am doing this not because I endorse all of Labour's policies, but because I abhor the Tory line on Brexit which will, in the medium- to long-term, negatively impact on our economy, our NHS, our education system and our care system.

Our children and their children deserve better. I am voting for them.

Antony Robson
​Sittingbourne

Both Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron have ruled out deals with other parties in the event of a hung parliament. Have they asked their supporters what they think about this?

Patrick Cosgrove
Bucknell, Shropshire

For many, elections and referendums are opportunities for big earnings, and among the biggest earners proudly sit the polling companies. Ipsos Mori has 4.5 million panellists in 50 countries and recorded a €390m (£340m) profit in the first quarter of 2017. YouGov, with four million panel members around the world, had a profit of over £80m a year ago.

I have still to meet anyone who has been phoned by a polling company. What we do not know is that those canvassed in polls have signed up to the company via their websites, so the polls are only representative of a selected group of their panel members. Results are not a true electorate representation.

We are told to take polls with a pinch of salt. Taking a dash of realism would be better – as we are all being naively taken to the cleaners.

Jean Johnston
Helensburgh

Theresa May rightly became Prime Minister after David Cameron’s resignation because the Conservative Party had a majority and so she became party leader. This election we seem to be being asked to vote for May’s party. What happens if, for any reason, she is unable to complete a term as Prime Minister? It would be quite inappropriate for anyone else in the party be appointed to replace her, so presumably we will need another general election. I regard this change to our constitutional procedures as being totally wrong.

PJ Johnston
Hexham

It is utterly predictable that as Theresa May’s poll ratings plummet she resorts to stinking up the general election campaign by resorting to anti-immigrant rhetoric. This might be on the advice of the Tories election “strategist” Lynton Crosby.

Crosby advised Zac Goldsmith to use similar tactics in his attempt to become the Mayor of London in 2016. Goldsmith’s campaign was disfigured by a shameless appeal to anti-Muslim prejudice. The strategy failed: London is one of the most multi-cultural places on the planet and its glory is its diversity. The people of London rejected Goldsmith’s tactics and voted in Sadiq Khan as their mayor.

Ever since, a politician who resorts to such tactics is seen as “doing a Zac”. In her desperation, Theresa May is now “doing a Zac”. May her career end up in ruins, as has Goldsmith’s.

Sasha Simic
London, N16

How despicable that many of the same po-faced politicians that condemned the murder of innocent children in the Manchester terror attack, also condone the shameless selling of weapons to Saudi Arabia etc – to butcher even more innocent children, in Yemen and elsewhere.

And these vile and debased hypocrites wonder why so many people don’t bother to vote.

Howard Henry Smith
Vale of Glamorgan

Animals kill when they’re kept captive

How many more people have to be hurt or killed by wild animals kept in confinement before we accept that these animals do not belong in captivity? Every year, we see – yet still fail to learn – that caging them brings tragedy to both them and humans.

No amount of time in a zoo, circus or marine park can take away their natural instincts. Denying them the chance to engage in any of the activities that give their life meaning is torment for them, so it can hardly come as a surprise that many lash out when they get the opportunity. Even the “best” zoos can never meet all the unique environmental, nutritional and social needs of the various species they imprison.

As long as we continue to treat wild animals as living exhibits, it’ll only be a matter of time before we’re talking about the next victim of a captive animal attack. With so many enthralling and humane ways to learn about animals, there’s never any reason to buy a ticket to the zoo.

Jennifer White
PETA UK

I feel that robots are much more likely, than any other real or imagined threats, to take over most human jobs. Witness automatic bank tellers and shop checkouts for a start. The world will continue into any foreseeable future to operate on trade, buying and selling. We will still need consumers. For now, someone’s got to buy the stuff that the machines make. That’s us. Millions of us are out of work. Bring in a generous universal wage and let us get to “work”. We’ll excel at it, I fancy.

Patrick Wise
Cirencester

In this country it is possibly considered unimportant news that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is in Berlin meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. They have announced that Germany is to provide €1bn (£870m) a year to India in assistance. Modi is quoted as saying that he believes in European unity and wants to see a strong Europe.

Our Brexit politicians race around the world and make much of our special relationships with countries such as India, but this agreement should be a sign that Europe will have more clout than a UK floating free, simply because it makes more sense to make deals with big players rather than small ones.

Leon Williams
Dover

We must be careful when interpreting statistical correlations not to assume which is the cause and which is the effect. It is possible that proximity to a Waitrose store increases local house prices, but an alternative and equally plausible explanation is that Waitrose chooses to locate its stores in more affluent areas where house prices are already above average.

John Coppendale
Cambridge