After 10 years in France I have yet to go into a bar in which I wanted to stay long enough to get drunk They have all the character of a college refectory. To avoid environmental catastrophe the nations of the world have to work together and adopt a sensible course of action; and this is not likely to occur. So what can we in Britain do to prepare for the inevitable problems?The chief threat would appear to be sea-level rise; there might be some wild weather coming but that is surviveable, and one day the Gulf Stream may shut down, but that’s a fairly distant prospect; the now problem is sea-level rise. What can we do to be prepared? Do we defend London or abandon it? We could start to move important executive offices to Manchester, or better still, Liverpool.To exacerbate the problem of ice-melt which causes sea-level rise there is a slow tectonic movement in Britain which causes the South-east to subside and the North-west to rise. The tilt line runs roughly through middle England from Torbay to Hull; Leicester is just about on the pivot point.The subsidence plus the ice-melt means double jeopardy for London. Our current consumption of fossil fuels is unsustainable and yet is set to grow inexorably as developing countries, in particular China and India, achieve the wealth of the west. To save the world’s climate requires not that the west trims its fossil fuel consumption while the developing world’s usage explodes, but that within a decade mankind generates its energy with no greenhouse waste.Remarkably, a solution exists for fuelling power stations and hence national grids: nuclear fission.

For running motor vehicles a research effort similar to the space race or the development of cell-phones will rapidly produce batteries or hydrogen-based fuel cells of sufficient capability.The problems are less technical than political. Our politicians must create global treaties to help and force all countries to replace fossil fuel power stations with nuclear power stations, they must create a tax regime which expedites the development of fuel cell technology and which forces motor manufacturers to phase out the internal combustion engine, and they must ease the pain for countries dependent on oil exports, especially in the Middle East.Environmentalist organisations must wake up to the reality that if they want to save the world rather than engage in gesture politics, they need to start promoting nuclear energy, and fast.ROBERT MACMILLAN Langley, BerkshireSir: The future looks bleak. In the long term the biggest winners will be our children and grandchildren who may be spared the horrors of an increasingly inhospitable world.ANTONY TURNER Director, CarbonSense Tunbridge Wells KentSir: The report indicating we have 10 years before climate change becomes irreversible is timely, but suggested responses amount to fiddling while the earth burns. Then trading would commence and the market would decide on the value of carbon emissions. Our internet-based systems are easily capable of handling the process.If I want to buy and run a large gas-guzzler, or fly to New York for the weekend that would be fine – but I would have to buy additional carbon credits in the marketplace.Most adults in industrial countries have some kind of bank account. Having an additional “carbon account”, with swipeable “carbon card” would hardly tax our major banking players.

In developing countries accounts could be held by communities on behalf of local people.In the short term the people who will benefit most will be the poorest in the world, who would be able to sell their carbon allocation to us in the west. These would be initially based on national average emissions, but would, over a few years, reduce down (or in the case of developing nations up) to the planet’s absorption capacity. The new EU Buildings Directive will require this for public buildings. Primary energy sources – fuel bills, petrol and diesel – are quick wins. Working out ratings for travel and products will take longer but will not be impossible.We must accept the concept of carbon emissions equity.