Every day, we publish a selection of your emails in our newsletter. We’d love to hear from you, you can email us at yoursay@theconversation.edu.au.
Monday August 31
“The horrific disaster in Nepal and Tibet and its link to a collapsed glacier reminds us that we are laughably unprepared for the impact of global warming. Greed and stupidity have derailed our survival for decades. Our ecosystems are collapsing, and yet our governments at all levels continue to do the bare minimum because we let them.”
Jane Davis
“I think that this article is simplistic and sticking to Christianity as an example, teaching more of it in schools will not help. I think that there are some genuine Christians, but the teachings of Jesus are very poorly communicated, and the institutions have become corrupted with the abuses of power, money and sexual exploitation. It is true that something needs to change, but ‘giving us the old time religion’ as the song goes, is not going to work for Christianity, and is equally unlikely with other religions where the fundamental spiritual truths are not taught or practised.”
Margo Webb 
Tuesday September 1
“Regarding last week’s ‘The Northern Territory has just voted to legalise voluntary assisted dying. Here’s how it will work’: it’s wonderful that the NT has passed VAD legislation. However, apart from access to telehealth and logistical support in rural and isolated areas, a major impediment remains for people with slower advancing conditions such as Alzheimers, MND and Parkinsons. All states need to now address this by considering stronger advanced health directives or a living will which provide clear guidance while capacity exists. The decision to access VAD must always remain with the individual.
Cec Pedersen, QLD
"The podcast ‘Politics with Michelle Grattan: Andrew Charlton’s warning on data centres’ impact on power bills’ raises an important point. The Queensland government seems to think new data centres should be powered by electricity from coal and gas, supposedly because it can control the energy mix and provide cheaper electricity. Instead, the market has decided that solar and wind with batteries provide cheaper energy, resulting in ever-decreasing utilisation of fossil fuels for electricity. No amount of political spin will change simple economics.”
Julian Lawrence, QLD
Wednesday September 2
“Regarding yesterday’s article ‘Research shows ethics education teaches kids right from wrong. Why can so few students access it?’: I think teaching ethics in schools is an absolute no-brainer. But it is immensely difficult in this country, as each state and territory has its own distinct laws on how this might be implemented. This issue, from a national perspective, is as important as gambling, addiction, domestic violence, feral animal management or pollution. For those children who have no ethical guidance at home, let them get it from school – from Kinder to Year 12.”
Ben Schutte
“I read with interest the piece on ‘Critics claim trans people ‘defy biology’. New research suggests otherwise’. It is interesting that the comparison was made between identical twins with a higher rate of both becoming trans, while non-identical twins had a markedly lower rate (slightly less than half the rate). I was left wondering about the proportion of these non-identical twins who were of different birth gender. In other words, if the twins were a boy and a girl, rather than both boys or both girls, they would not be a fair comparison to the identical twins in the other arm of the study, with both of the same gender. The article does not mention if such non-identical twins were excluded from the study.”
Peter Tung, Bayswater North VIC
Thursday September 3
“I read with great sadness that ‘Victoria’s First Nations body breaks new ground in support of prisoners’ ‘open air’ rights’. No operational issues should ever be used to justify denial of fresh air and exercise for prisoners: it is a basic human right for all, and essential for physical, spiritual and mental health. I hope the government reconsiders this harmful decision, it’s barbaric.”
Andrea Cohen, Alexandra
“Thanks for your interesting analysis in ‘Bird flu could devastate Macquarie Island. Why are we removing the scientists we need to understand it?’ Given a focus on the mainland is vaccinating vulnerable species in an attempt to minimise catastrophic loss, why is there no discussion about vaccinating at-risk populations on Macquarie Island?”
Fiona May, ACT
Friday September 4
“Reading yesterday’s article ‘Can Australian businesses legally ban customers from using smart glasses?’ as a vision-impaired person (Homonymous hemianopia), I’m somewhat concerned this potential ban could impose obstacles for people like me. We are increasingly going to rely on devices like these to provide a degree of independence. I have trialled a pair of Ray Ban Meta glasses and while they provided useful information about the world around me, they did not improve my awareness enough to justify getting a pair. People with poorer vision than myself could find them very useful though. Wearable technology is going to provide an increasing degree of support for disabled people. In the same way that Guide Dogs and support dogs cannot be excluded from any public places, the same approach needs to be adopted for assistive technology like this.”
Colin Cook
“There is an alternative to our alliance with the United States. Every 16-year-old could spend six months in the defence forces, police force or ambulance service, developing a strong sense of loyalty to the country. The cost would be more than covered by avoiding the waste of money on AUKUS, an expensive dream that could become a nightmare. If everyone who wants to volunteer, as training permits, has the opportunity to receive defence training in drones at any age, we could build a self-protecting defence force capable of defending ourselves. Relying on others is not a good policy.”
Richard Cantwell, Gisborne VIC