It should simply be an empirical matter whether the climate is changing or not and whether we're responsible. But the various sides of the debate have now become so tribal that it's no longer a matter of changing our views as more information comes in.

Now, I'm an atheist. I really don't believe for a moment that our moral sense comes from a god.

The best way to tell people about climate change is through non-fiction. There's a vast literature of outstanding writing on the subject.

Novelists have to be adept at controlling the flow of information, and, most crucially, they have to be in charge of the narrative.

One important theme is the extent to which one can ever correct an error, especially outside any frame of religious forgiveness. All of us have done something we regret - how we manage to remove that from our conscience, or whether that's even possible, interested me.

They are changing the climate of the debate. There is no reason why we shouldn't have this debate ... but it is making some people (in Western Europe) a little nervous.