George Monbiot’s observations (The Earth is in a death spiral. The only hope is radical action, 14 November) are well worth reading and thought-provoking. At one point he writes: “Academics, afraid to upset their funders, have bitten their lips.”

There are exceptions. Keith Kahn-Harris’s book Denial: The Unspeakable Truth ought be compulsory reading for every university student of English, history and moral philosophy. He seems an academic who has definitely not bitten his lip, but sought to penetrate a fog of lies perpetuated by denialists: those who shout down and treat with contempt the historians and scientists who have sought the truth and presented us with their findings.

Climate change denialists dredge up countless explanations for floods and fires. Donald Trump blames “poor forest management” for the conflagrations in California that have killed many people.

Monbiot and Kahn-Harris ought to be on the reading lists of all of us who seek to understand truths about the planet that we share with fellow human beings, animals and plants.

Penelope Maclachlan

London

• We applaud the Committee on Climate Change’s recommendations to shift land use from inefficient food production towards restoring forests and other climate-critical landscapes (Tree planting in UK ‘must double to tackle climate change’, 15 November). We have solid science showing natural climate solutions can deliver 37% of the carbon reductions required to meet the Paris agreement. We have also published a study showing natural solutions could mitigate more than a fifth of US carbon emissions. These solutions are proven and available right now. Enshrining them in policy would be a massive step forward.

Peter Wheeler

Executive vice-president, The Nature Conservancy

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