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Mike Hulme is right to stress that responsibility for implementing the Kyoto protocol falls to each and every one of us (Letters, THES , April 20). Governments and their policies, however, shape the boundaries within which individuals make decisions. They can also affect the information on which we base decisions.

Most individuals are not given comprehensive and unbiased information relating to climate change. Indeed, those who take George W. Bush at his word could be forgiven for claiming that climate change is completely independent of human activities.

Yes, changes must happen at the individual level, but until we are in possession of the facts it is easy to keep our heads in the increasingly hot sand.

Institute of Ecology and Resource Management
University of Edinburgh