Evans states he has no doubt that human activity is causing dangerous global warming but argues disruptive forms of protest will be counter-productive. That's certainly a point of view which can be argued. Others will have a different view. Much hangs on one's perception of the severity and imminence of the danger.

But why did Evans choose to spoil his article with such a current of churlish nastiness?

It's replete with pejoratives such as "the chatterati", and attacks on "sanctimonious" people "moral credentialing" who then allegedly "roar off in the Lexus". First in the headline and twice more in the article Mr Evans refers to Greta Thunberg as "St Greta".

That's nothing more than a mocking title detractors throw at Thunberg in a childish display of schoolyard bullying. When you can't refute the truth of the message attack the messenger.

So much more satisfying when the messenger is a small teenage girl. The Canberra Times should be a little less indulgent of journalistic spleen.

Steve Evans argues the "sensible" path for climate change ("Have no faith in St Greta's crusade", October 12, p32), but over the years this argument has got us in this very crisis that Greta Thunberg identifies.

As Garnaut and Stern argued, the longer we leave it, the more it costs.

Gillard's carbon charge was $23; the IMF now tells us $75+ is needed. We've already blown our time. The implications are existential.

Steve Evans's characterisation of Extinction Rebellion participants as holier-than-thou virtue-signallers is fanciful ("Have no faith in St Greta's crusade", October 12, p32).

Canberrans are participating because they are worried about the future for their children and grandchildren and of life on earth in a last-ditch attempt to pressure a recalcitrant government in thrall to the fossil fuel industry to take serious, urgent action to protect us all from the catastrophic effects of human-induced global warming.

Much criticism has been made of the Extinction Rebellion movement in recent days as they try to get the world's leaders to take greater action to combat climate change.

It is easy to criticise people who are deliberately disrupting people's lives and interrupting the goings on in society. It's understandable when you have your day disrupted.

However, perhaps we all need to see beyond ourselves. Surely inaction on climate change action will also disrupt our lives, only by stealth instead.

Given the forecasts on climate change, the reality is that we are in for far greater inconvenience if governments, and all of us, fail to act now.

Extreme weather events, intolerable heat waves, sea level rises and an unliveable planet will interrupt many comfortable lives in a far more serious manner than a protest movement.

We cannot ignore the need for change because it's inconvenient. History has shown that when governments and social norms are inhibiting progress people have had to rise up and take significant, and sometimes inconvenient, action,

I'd cite the suffragettes in the early 20th century as a clear example. They were law breaking women who forced necessary and significant shifts in society norms. Sometimes movements like Extinction Rebellion are necessary way to shock the political and broader world into responsible action.

I applaud the passion of people supporting climate change action by protesting and hope it continues to inconvenience us all and gets governments to face reality.

Do I want anything for Christmas? Perhaps. Do I need anything? Definitely not.

I am an 84-year-old aged pensioner who has had a privileged life, like so many others, with all the necessities provided for.

I have had love, family, fresh air and water, freedom of speech and religion, peace, a good job a happy marriage and loving kids. I don't need anything more.

That is not so for my previous fellow townspeople. My heart is burdened with sorrow for all the friends who are suffering through this shocking drought.

My husband and I lived through some tough times on the land, but nothing like what we are seeing at the moment.

Coonamble in north western NSW is very dear to my heart. It is in a really bad way, like so many other places.

This year I am asking all my family to give me some Drought Aid for Christmas. A large bale of hay costs about $100, a hamper about $50, a small bale of hay $20. Ideally, I would like to take that money to Coonamble to be spent in the local shops because it isn't only the farmers who are in strife.

However, I am not very mobile so will have to see what alternatives I can come up with: bank transfer, personal cheque and so on.

I would like to think that there are others out there who could do the same thing for someone they know in a drought-ravaged area. There are several websites where you can donate. Please give it some serious thought.

Congratulations to Abiy Ahmed, the prime minister of Ethiopia, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize on October 11, for his work in restarting peace talks with neighbouring Eritrea and beginning to restore freedoms in his country after decades of political and economic repression.

The long-standing enmity between the two countries has separated families and cost many lives through border violence in the past two years. His peacemaking opens the way for building on the shared ethnic and cultural ties of these nations.

If President Trump earnestly believes that the Kurds should be cast aside because they were not at Normandy in 1944, he should entreat his speech writer to detail in mono-syllabic terms the battle honours gained by US regiments at the Marne, Gallipoli, Verdun and the Somme between 1914-1916. Also, how many USN warships participated in the 1916 Battle of Jutland or anywhere else until they entered World (without America) War I in April, 1917.

Any Kurdish absence from Normandy would also be overshadowed by US land and air forces missing in action during 1940 in the Ardennes or the Battle of Britain as WWII was of but peripheral interest until American resources were attacked on December 7, 1941.

Living as much in a glass house as a White House, Mr Trump should be reminded of the dangers of throwing stones.

Once again motorists were faced by loony bikers (from Extinction Rebellion) who were not only breaking the law by riding four or five abreast down Northbourne Avenue but also deciding to lie down in the middle of the road at an intersection.

How many civic laws were broken. Where were the police? Standing around, looking bemused.

I wonder what would have happened if one or two of those motorists had just driven on. Would the police have chased them down the highway and arrested them?

Australia is a great democracy. The right to peaceful protest is every citizens right. But when it interferes with the right of free passage for other citizens it becomes unlawful.

Our law enforcement officers should uphold the law. The protesters should stick to the parks or pedestrian precincts.

The land tax passed on to Phil Creaser (Letters, October 14) appears to be the tax designed to dissuade home hoarding.

It is odd the measure should have such obvious unintended consequences in that it collects a whole quarter's tax for a very short period of vacancy.

Why would it even apply to short vacancies? It's application in that way to newly habitable premises got me wondering if its real intention was a transaction tax on new premises, to recoup the stamp duty lost by recent reforms.

But that can't be right. That loss is already being recouped through higher rates.

The federal government issues the licenses for the big four banks to undertake business in Australia.

Surely it can compose whatever conditions it likes on those licenses. One could be a requirement to pass on interest reductions by the Reserve Bank in full unless the case can be demonstrated to the ACCC as to why it cannot.

All we lack is a federal government with the guts to use its powers.

Maybe I'm callous; but when I hear about the fires in Queensland and Northern New South Wales I wonder who those who are affected voted for in the last election.

B Johnson's description: "nose ringed crusties in hemp smelling bivouacs" perfectly describes the anarchists, socialists and ageing hippies creating havoc for Australians who are simply attempting to go about their lawful business.

Extinction Rebellion has been a success. Numbers of the previously endangered Raucous Green Twit have greatly increased and its' survival, thanks to pockets of press support, now seems assured.

Which countries and stateless indigenous cultures in Asia helped the United States in World War II and supported US troops on the beaches in Normandy?

Government shortsightedness in "getting rid of red tape" clearly facilitated the apartment "disaster" which now needs taxpayer funded first-aid (ACT government steps in to fix apartment block defects, October 12, p2). The government's intervention sounds chivalrous until you realise this will rob schools and hospitals of funds.

Being the world's police force is a thankless task, so I can understand why the US wants to pull out of the Middle East. But can the West just look on while one nation destroys another? The horrendous Turkish genocide of the Armenians comes to mind.

So, inspired by a Scandinavian girl who does not have a clue, protesters block Northbourne Avenue. As an engineer I always had to develop a solution to a problem. What is their solution to global warming? Not coal. There is scientific evidence of cyclic warmings in the past.

I spent three hours at the last day of Floriade (doggy day). What a great experience. So many dogs, all sizes, all behaving themselves, no fights and not a doggy poo in sight. Congratulations. It goes to prove we can mix and enjoy each others company.

If Trump cares about getting US troops out of war zones in the Middle East (Syria) how does he justify sending more to Saudi Arabia? Easy. Other people's lives don't concern us, their oil does.

The Federal government is pressuring the banks, via an ACCC review, to pass on the full interest rate cuts on mortgages. Is it going to lower deeming rates in relation to eligibility for the aged pension?

Unhappy with the your loan rate? Change banks.

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