BBC And Planet Relief

In an age where half of children between the ages of seven and 11 are anxious about the effects of global warming and often lose sleep over it,

in an age where the melting of Greenland's ice sheet has accelerated so dramatically that it is triggering earthquakes for the first time,

in an age where more than 50 active wildfires are raging throughout a million-and-half acres in the West of the US,

it seems not just odd but immoral that the BBC has abandoned its plans for a day-long focus on climate change, tentatively called "Planet Relief."

The comment by Peter Barron, Newsnight's editor, that "It's absolutely not the BBC's job to save the planet" is strange since it does seem to be the BBC's job to save Africa (Comic Relief) and disadvantaged children (Children in Need). Our view at Trees for Cities is that it is the job of all of us to do what we can, however big or small, to save the planet and it is disappointing that Mr Barron and others at the BBC who have the opportunity to do something big, should lose sight of this responsibility as they gaze at their corporate navel.

Graham Simmonds
Chief Executive
Trees for Cities