Climate change tipping points are not just symbolic

This symbolic threshold ( Carbon dioxide levels bring climate change into a new era , 25 October) is one of many very real tipping points the world will experience on a path of climate change due to human effects. The tipping points we should also be paying attention to are the mass extinctions, global warming, melting ice and complete habitat changes we are currently seeing worldwide. Soon we will recognise these not as symbolic thresholds but more as points of no return. The Paris and Kigali agreements are both important for slowing down the climate trend wiping out animal and plant species worldwide. But both are just bandages to the real problem of resource management and consumption practices exacerbating the problems to unsustainable limits. Caroline Hernandez Chevy Chase, Maryland, USA Join the debate email guardian.letters@theguardian.com