Climate change is a recognised fact but that’s not enough to make people alter their behaviour (Image: Andrzeg Krause)

AT A recent dinner at the University of Oxford, a senior researcher in atmospheric physics was telling me about his coming holiday in Thailand. I asked him whether he was concerned that his trip would make a contribution to climate change – we had, after all, just sat through a two-hour presentation on the topic. “Of course,” he said blithely. “And I’m sure the government will make long-haul flights illegal at some point.”

I had deliberately steered our conversation this way as …