Global warming is now seriously in the news all over the world. Europe had extreme floods, North America and Turkey are on fire, central China was inundated.

The scientists are warning of a catastrophe, the "heat dome" over western Canada and western USA exhibits a weather mechanism that had not previously been experienced or predicted; experts are finding this a frightening concern. We are at the start of a climate catastrophe.

The travel industry is desperate to restart foreign holidays with widespread air travel; the auto industry is pressing ahead to build more cars to keep the economy going. A major reduction in car building, foreign travel and general rushing around would create an economic catastrophe.
So we have a choice between two types of catastrophe - more walking and fewer car journeys would be a start. We need to focus on those things that we can actually do ourselves as well as worrying about what other people might do - whether our politicians or people overseas.

In Tokyo, many years ago, I had a colleague with me who needed his exercise. He would get up early, put on his lycra, go jogging, shower and then join me at breakfast. It was 50 minutes from our hotel to the office - either 50 minutes in a taxi stuck in Tokyo traffic, 50 minutes on subway trains with two changes, or a 50 minute brisk walk - which was my morning exercise. Sadly, he couldn't walk as fast as me, so it took longer!

When I was young, cycling was a means of transport but it has become recreational. Cycles used to have baskets on the front and panniers at the back. Why don't planning authorities require cycle racks along with parking spaces; council-owned car parks could install cycle racks; shops could have cycle racks. We fund the cycle path to Exeter, but make no accommodation to use bicycles for practical purposes. People rush in cars to the gym; walking to the gym and back would save petrol and also the gym fees! Walking is better for the knee joints than jogging - running springs from the toes, jogging bangs down on the heel - ask your doctor!

A recent documentary predicted that a major volcano will definitely erupt again with very little warning, though maybe not for 1,000 years or more. The whole planet would be covered in ash with the sun blacked out, starting another ice age. That would fix travel and global warming all at once. We hope this will not happen this century, though there is not a lot we could do. Don't get depressed - many people worrying about major concerns have stepped off the kerb without thinking. Road accidents are still taking almost as many lives as Covid-19.

The Bible tells of great plagues; maybe God is trying to tell us all to mend our ways. There are non-believers with philosophy rooted in nature thinking the planet has the ability to push back. As a Christian and a scientist, I could believe that God created the world with its own recovery systems, so maybe God can just watch the mechanisms play out. The Coronavirus has certainly started us thinking more about others; now we need to react to global warming; or should we worry about volcanic eruptions?

Dinosaurs may have died out because of the delay in getting signals from their brains to their legs and tail - they didn't have Jurassic fibre!

We now need to react very swiftly to Global Warming.