Monday, October 19 turned out to be a beautiful day., perfect for a bike ride. At Strand Quay several people looked in surprise at the high tide, which in fact spilled way over the river edges. It was 1pm. Everyone can have their opinion but surely one has to wonder how climate change is making extreme weather events more likely, increasing floods, hurricanes and intensifying storms.
Looking at the bigger picture, it is clear that there are devastating effects of climate change concerning global food supplies, conflict, disease and global instability. The WWF – (World Wide Fund for Nature) says “Manmade climate change is the biggest environmental crises of our time. It threatens the future of the planet we depend on and we are the generation which should do something about it.”
The discussion continues about renewable energy, is it the needed alternative, but as some suggest, is it too expensive? Others insist that solar power and offshore wind are the cheapest ways of generating electricity, cheaper than nuclear, gas and fossil fuel. There is a thought that climate change is a future problem for the next generations to deal with but many others see this as an excuse not to act.
CO2 (carbon dioxide) is blamed for pollution destroying the environment. While nature uses up much of it if enough trees and plants are left on the globe, in itself it does not cause a problem, it is the quantity produced by humanity, even though there still seems no agreement of how much CO2 would be problematic and heat up the environment. But what is known is that developing countries are worst affected by climate change, drought, floods, poverty and food issues. If you are interested in the subject, following is a very interesting read “The 10 myths about climate change” on the WWF website. WWF’s mission is to “create a world where people and wildlife can thrive together.”
Image Credits: Heidi Foster .
Although well intentioned, perhaps a more focussed and tangible view of the practical steps Rye could be taking as a town to help tackle environmental issues might be more helpful and engaging? Measures we can all get behind as a community – electric vehicle charging stations, better insulation/reducing energy loss in our buildings, shared car ownership/car clubs, renewable energy sources including biomass, increased recycling, locally produced goods, an electric community bus [and electrification more broadly] etc. etc.?