A letter to the Sheffield Star and Telegraph
John Bunting (Sheffield Telegraph 01/08/24) hasn’t noticed the effects of climate change in his garden or in the Peak District. He should count himself lucky, as many people in the global south have experienced drought, storms and flooding making it increasingly difficult to survive.
However, the Peak District is affected by climate change.
The National Park Authority say
“Heatwaves similar to that experienced during summer 2018 are now 30 times more likely to occur and extended periods of UK winter rainfall are now seven times more likely. Such extremes of weather could make incidents like the near-collapse of the reservoir in Whaley Bridge just outside the National Park in 2019 (when a month’s rainfall fell in 36 hours) more frequent.”
The Peat Bogs in the Peak District are an important carbon sink, a vital tool in the battle against global heating as well as a natural flood defence for Sheffield. We must work to protect and improve them.
Our gardens are having to adapt to the increase in rainfall they have experienced. The Met Office say
“The most recent decade has had around 20% more days of exceptional rainfall compared to the 1961-1990 averaging period…this analysis clearly shows an increase in the number of very wet days in the UK’s climate in recent years compared to what was observed just a few decades ago.”
As I write Antarctica is experiencing temperatures 24°C above the average – at the height of winter! The Earth’s natural air-conditioners are under threat at both poles. The more they diminish the hotter the Earth will become. Rising sea levels may not threaten John Bunting’s garden but they will threaten most of East Anglia. We must stop burning fossil fuels now.
Yours sincerely
Graham Wroe
John Buntings letter in the Star 31/07/24 and Sheffield Telegraph 1/8/24
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