This blog may help people explore some of the 'hidden' issues involved in certain media treatments of environmental and scientific issues. Using personal digital images, it's also intended to emphasise seasonal (and other) changes in natural history of the Swansea (South Wales) area. The material should help participants in field-based modules and people generally interested in the natural world. The views are wholly those of the author.
Saturday, 6 January 2024
Rain, Reign o'er We?
England and Wales currently have almost 250 flood warnings in place. These diluted sewage waters have caused damage to properties and businesses, as well as disrupting rail and road travel in many parts of these countries. They are an obvious health threat (https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024/jan/06/cold-weather-alert-issued-amid-246-flood-warnings-in-england-and-wales). Surely, however, this flooding, is an unantipated 'Act of God' for which nobody can be blamed? Wrong: it can hardly be news that hotter air holds more water! That, inevitably, means more frequent, heavy rainfall, as well as a proliferation of violent storms. In spite of these truisms, many flood defences appear to have been allowed to degrade or be simply abandoned. Virtually nothing also appears to have been done to climate change-proof UK infrastructure. The BBC even reported that the privatised Water Companies couldn't be blamed, this time, for the sewage contamination of flood waters. It was, apparently, the fault of the Victorians for their inadequately-designed sewage treatment systems! Couldn't those Water Companies have recognised that a) they have more people to deal with and b) climate change is happening? Perhaps they could have spent some of their monopoly profits on modernisation? Flooding will become an annual event in many parts of the UK. Ameliorating its effects, must be an urgent consideration. Flooding is going to happen, irrespective of changes in 'greenhouse gas' emissions.
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My prediction of regular UK flooding was officially confirmed today!
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