Dear Sir,

For those who want to save this precious world that we call our home, and who are genuinely concerned about the present parlous state of affairs, COP26 in Glasgow must have been of great interest.

I was really pleased and honoured to see that Mia Mottley, the Prime Minister of Barbados, was a keynote speaker at the opening ceremony of this very prestigious event.

She put on a performance that was so well received that one could see the gathering dignitaries — Charles, the Prince of Wales, President Joe Biden, President Emmanuel Macron and other keynote speakers — wondering who this powerful woman was.

She did not mince her words when she chastised the so-called leaders of the G7 and G10 for failing miserably in delivering the promises made at COP25 in Paris five years ago.

We should be proud to be somewhat linked with her. She was stating the case of island nations worldwide who have recently been experiencing the catastrophic effects of climate change.

The effects of climate change have been brought to the world’s attention by young activists who had been dismissed by some ignorant leaders such as the 45th President of the United States, and the leaders of North Korea and the Philippines among others.

The persistence of these young people to galvanise we older people to take action has been superb. It has shown that not all young people are disinterested in what goes on around them. After all, they want and wish for a world that will be theirs to inherit.

But one galling concern of mine is this: the US presidential entourage arrived in Europe for the G10 and COP26 meetings with 85 huge, petrol-guzzling vehicles flown in from America.

Eighty-five vehicles to attend a climate change conference? Was the irony lost on the Americans and other world leaders arriving in similar fashion?

What do you need 85 heavy-duty vehicles for? How does that actually justify the utterances of some of these world leaders?

No wonder, then, that those young activists stayed outside the conference centre, continuing with their protests, and not putting much faith in the “hot air” being blown without conviction inside.

Bermuda is one of the island nations at great risk of the catastrophic effects of climate change. Please let us not just pay lip service to pretending that we are being proactive in tackling these problems.

If we fail, our offspring will have no world to inherit and they will be right in blaming us for destroying this beautiful planet, which we call our home.

FEMI BADA, MD

St George’s