Climate Change

[SteamyTea]

There has been a lot in the press recently about this, and down here we have seen record breaking sea surface temperatures, and nationally we have probably had the warmest June ever.

Now we (scientists) know that the underlying problem is the increase in atmospheric CO_2e gases and land use change.

So rather than bang the same drum about reducing energy usage, insulate homes, population control (though that is more about prejudice than anything else), blaming other countries etc, let us assume that we have missed the boat on mitigation, and are now into resilience.

How can the UK make itself resilient to climate change and weather variation.

So to kick the ball off here is the start of my list about what we have to look at:

 

Agriculture

Flooding

Drought

Storms

Travel

Energy Production

Education

Industry/Commerce

 

I am going to go against my usual optimistic outlook and assume that within a decade the above areas will become a real problem.

 

So how can the normal home owner help in this global problem?

[MikeGrahamT21]

I'm probably star pupil here, but i'm not so sure the majority would be willing to change their lifestyles to suit. I do the following:

• Eat responsibly and locally, and have zero food waste
• Travel within the country and only when necessary (this is partly because i'm just a boring bugger, and partly because driving results in days of pain for me, courtesy of fibromyalgia)
• Be careful with water usage, only using just what you need, and harvesting as much rainwater as possible to cover dry periods
• Buy just the things you need, and reduce the want list to virtually zero. Repair when possible instead of replacing.
• I have both Solar and Battery, which allows me to be self sufficient for a large proportion of the year (around 9 months), during which time I export far more than i use and store to the grid

 

Compared with everyone I know, I go far and beyond what they do. My motto is to leave no footprint, or as little footprint as possible (which was oddly something we were taught about in primary school for when you are in the countryside), and leave the bit of the world i have control over in a better state than i found it.

 

As for your list I would probably add security, depending on how bad things get, societal breakdown is a possibility, and security will also need increasing for the whole supply chain.

[markc]

Whilst population control is a touchy subject it has to be addressed, in nature boom and bust (in population terms) is common.

waste! Production of and marketing of waste is big business, everyone (majority) have to have the latest gadgets, tech, phones, excercise ‘thingy’ etc.

good design of housing and buildings that don’t need ever increasing amounts of AC to keep them habitable, as kids we never saw AC even in 1976 when it was very warm but now people will die if they don’t have AC at work or countless fans at home.

basically, we have all been taught to be soft and we need to toughen up and as above, leave a little footprint as possible

[jayc89]

Housing is a big starting point, it has to include things like solar, rain water harvesting (and enforced use of, for hose pipes, toilets etc) and attenuation. 

 

We generally already eat pretty local, mainly because it's as cheap as the supermarkets these days - we can get a fruit/veg box delivered every week from a local farm for roughly the same price as it would cost to buy the same products from Aldi, yet it's fresher, tastier and lasts longer. The problem is, people want strawberries during winter - everyone needs to get used to eating seasonally again. Cereal/grain is probably the only thing we eat regularly now which I suspect is imported. 

[ProDave]

Moving on to dealing with climate change is a positive step.  For too long we have been concerned with stopping climate change.  Stopping climate change depends on that climate change being man made, which we are continuously told it is.  But WHAT IF it is not, we stop all the CO2 emissions we all live our lives carbon neutral and the bloody climate still changes because that is what the planet has been doing for millions of years and is not about to stop changing just because we say so?

 

I think the biggest threat, is sea level.  It won't bother me at 105 metres above sea level, but we have plenty of large cities on the coast and estuaries.  What will they be like if the sea rises 1 metre?  2 metres?  5 metres?  What planning are we doing to mitigate that?  Encircle them with dykes and live below sea level like the Dutch?  Abandon them and move everyone to higher ground?

 

But as this change will be global, a lot of land that is already marginal for human occupation will become impossible, so mass migration will be a global issue to deal with.  The (mostly economic) illegal migration we have now is nothing compared to the probable migration that is to come. 

 

Like population control, you hear no talk from those that should be planning this, what they are actually planning.  That is worrying.

[Marvin]

 

28 minutes ago, SteamyTea said:

So how can the normal home owner help in this global problem?

 This is such a difficult question to answer. I wish I knew a simple way of knowing the answer beyond the obvious of not having children.

 

Every improvement to a home seems to come at a global price. My guess would be to just use less which we try to do.

 

Technology changes often use rare materials and travel thousands of miles, and therefore globally, I'm not sure if the effects of use compensate for the global effects of manufacturer, supply and installation. It's a sort of 'Pay now or pay later, either way you pay' scenario.

 

[JohnMo]

Water for drinking is main issue I see.  Especially in coastal areas and especially small islands, where rising sea levels contaminate ground water etc.

[markc]

Melting ice and subsequent rising sea levels would greatly reduce land area, maybe we need to dig deeper into sea farming (floating or sub surface) 

Edited July 3, 2023 by markc

[Marvin]

11 minutes ago, JohnMo said:

Water for drinking is main issue I see.  Especially in coastal areas and especially small islands, where rising sea levels contaminate ground water etc.

Good point. I think people drink about 2 litres a day, so I think that eventually either we will end up with bottled drinking water or a machine in each house that will purify water.

[SteamyTea]

Keep the ideas coming, it is quite interesting.

 

[IGP]

For me it’s relatively straightforward, focusing on what I can realistically can control. 
 

Getting the big calls right, meaning replacing my next car with an EV, replacing my boiler to an ASHP when I can. Avoid eating beef & lamb. Vote for those who take climate change seriously. Try to take fewer flights. 
 

Smaller things, ensuring all my taps excluding the bath have aerators on. Grow some of my own food, some potatoes, beetroot, strawberries etc, nothing world changing. 
 

I’ve thought a lot about the ‘having less kids’ argument and have come to the conclusion that they bring hope that they can do better than those who have come before.

 

[saveasteading]

2 hours ago, ProDave said:

mostly economic) illegal migration we have now is nothing compared to the probable migration that is to come. 

I will abstain from the politics of this, which isn't for here.

 

But isn't most migration an escape from war or famine? Almost any documentary about the demise of a civilisation will end saying it was water....too much or too little.

 

To end with a tease. In any documentary or travel programme about the Highlands, there will be 90% English accents.  Probably all legal, but perhaps have relocated for the reliable water supply.

[JohnMo]

26 minutes ago, IGP said:

Vote for those who take climate change seriously

Is there a party that does that, greens in Scotland don't seem to care much about green issues more interested in independence at any cost.

 

28 minutes ago, IGP said:

having less kids’ argument and have come to the conclusion that they bring hope that they can do better than those who have come before.

Looking at the mess in the woods where we sometimes walk the dog (near a high school) the plastic rubbish dropped and food just thrown on the ground is a awful. Do they care?

[JohnMo]

5 minutes ago, saveasteading said:

Probably all legal, but perhaps have relocated for the reliable water supply.

Not that's really anyone here thought about when coming here. 

 

I came to Scotland kicking and screaming, being told I was being posted here with the RAF. That was in the mid 90s. Met my wife here and here we stay. Water didn't even cross my mind. But weather here is good, not as hot in summer as England, not much rainfall, compared to the rest of the UK (small micro climate). Generally mild winters except for last year where we had -9 few weeks.

[ProDave]

37 minutes ago, saveasteading said:

To end with a tease. In any documentary or travel programme about the Highlands, there will be 90% English accents.  Probably all legal, but perhaps have relocated for the reliable water supply.

Nope, I migrated to get away from the over crowded, over priced SE of England, and to live somewhere with decent scenery.

[jayc89]

18 minutes ago, ProDave said:

Nope, I migrated to get away from the over crowded, over priced SE of England, and to live somewhere with decent scenery.

 

Came across a plot for sale at John o' Groats. It was quite appealing to be fair... 

[Temp]

In the UK we love our houses and there is quite a link between the housing market and the whole economy.

 

Banks are reluctant to lend on leasehold properties with less than 60 years left on the lease.... yet are happy to lend on houses that could have major  costal flooding issues with 60 years (2080).

 

So I wonder when/if they will suddenly wake up to this and decide not to lend on those properties ? 

  

 

 

 

 

[jayc89]

2 minutes ago, Temp said:

In the UK we love our houses and there is quite a link between the housing market and the whole economy.

 

Banks are reluctant to lend on leasehold properties with less than 60 years left on the lease.... yet are happy to lend on houses that could have major  costal flooding issues with 60 years (2080).

 

So I wonder when/if they will suddenly wake up to this and decide not to lend on those properties ? 

  

 

 

 

 

 

There are properties on the East coast that are no longer mortgageable. Every couple of years there are local news articles about people being forced to leave their homes due to the area becoming so unsafe.

[Temp]

6 minutes ago, jayc89 said:

 

There are properties on the East coast that are no longer mortgageable. Every couple of years there are local news articles about people being forced to leave their homes due to the area becoming so unsafe.

 

Yes I think those are mostly at risk from cliff erosion?  

[saveasteading]

4 hours ago, ProDave said:

over priced SE of England

Where there is already a hosepipe ban in Kent and E Sussex.

Still 100 000 houses to be built but there is no plan for water other than to take it away from places with plenty. Or for sewage other than feed the existing system 

[SteamyTea]

1 minute ago, saveasteading said:

Where there is already a hosepipe ban in Kent and E Sussex.

We have had one since last summer.

 

[saveasteading]

Just now, SteamyTea said:

since last summer.

You mean it was never lifted?

[saveasteading]

7 hours ago, Marvin said:

answer beyond the obvious of not having children.

No, we need economically active people to serve the nation.

Children will be these people.

A despot would allow in all the boat people and lorry hitchers as being  full of endeavour and courage, and kill off the over 70s.

[SteamyTea]

13 minutes ago, saveasteading said:

You mean it was never lifted?

Yes.

we got some money knocked off our bills if we could, collectively, each save 5 lt a day.

We managed that.

It is not over development or anything sinister down here, just been, for a very wet area, a little bit dryer.  I don't think that SWW pumps much underground water, most of it is radioactive, or polluted with tin, copper, arsenic, lithium...

[saveasteading]

7 hours ago, ProDave said:

what they are actually planning

Who are "they" 

The EA has been reduced to where it can't infuence policy and is beholden to government.

 

Planners genuinely don't understand it. They aren't scientifically minded.

 

I'm afraid the real "they" are the usual suspects. Landowners, developers. The City.

 

On which: DEFRA are supposed to uphold standards and have plans. 

I see they have instructed the sewage companies that dumping has to be improved by.......2050, and, asked for proposals.

 

They are being challenged to try harder at the High Court tomorrow.