This heatwave is just the start. Britain has to adapt to climate change, fast – writes Simon Lewis, professor of global change science at University College London and the University of Leeds
Water, housing, farming … almost every aspect of public life needs to change. Why isn’t this top of the political agenda? Climate change is a greater threat to the UK than EU directives, terrorism, or a foreign power invading. Much of the world is in the grip of a heatwave. Britain is so hot and dry that we have Indonesia-style peat fires raging across our moorlands. Montreal posted its highest temperature ever, with the deaths of 33 people in Quebec attributed to the scorching heat. And if you think that’s hot and dangerous, the town of Quriyat in Oman never went below a frightening 42.6C for a full 24 hours in June, almost certainly a global record.
While Donald Trump and many conservatives like to argue that climate change is a hoax, James Hansen, the 77-year-old former Nasa climate scientist, said in an interview at his home in New York that the relevant hoax today is perpetrated by those leaders claiming to be addressing the problem.
A study published by the UK National Oceanographic Centre (NOC) has warned rising sea levels could cost the world economy £10trillion ($14trillion) a year by 2100. The startling report argued failure to meet the United Nation’s (UN) 2C warming limits could have catastrophic consequences. The scientists behind the study fear hundreds of millions of people who reside in low coastal areas are most at risk from rising sea levels.
‘Striking association’ found between nine-year-old’s hospital admissions and local spikes in air pollution
MPs have criticised government proposals that could see some fracking planning applications considered under the Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIP) regime or allowed as permitted development rights as 'hugely harmful to local democracy'.
“It’s catastrophic and that’s what we’ve forgotten – our generation is presiding over an ecological apocalypse and we’ve somehow or other normalised it. We need a peaceful public uprising. We need people to say we’ve had enough. We do that every time there’s a terror attack. We need a similar movement for nature. We need people to stand up and say we want action now.”
Factors such as climate change, loss of habitat, use of pesticides and disease are to blame, the report said. Prof Fiona Mathews, chairwoman of the Mammal Society said: "This is the first time anyone has looked across all species for about 20 years.
Research by a team at the University of Exeter examined data from 300 sites across England and Wales which detailed numbers, breeding trends and population changes in relation to climate, habitat and woodland management. Dr Cecily Goodwin, who led the research, said the study “used nest box site surveys and volunteers and found that over 21 years at hundreds of sites across the country, dormice had declined by 72 per cent”.
The Mind Matters research conducted by Construction News last year uncovered shocking figures for mental health within the industry, revealing one in four construction workers surveyed had contemplated taking their own life, rising to one in three amongst junior staff and graduates. A further survey by recruitment specialists Randstad also found that almost a quarter of construction workers were considering leaving the industry within a year, many due to stress and poor mental health. To be haemorrhaging human resource at such a rate is clearly unthinkable and unsustainable – especially given the existing skills-gap challenge of an ageing, predominantly white and male workforce.
