Extreme weather takes its toll

My French cycling trip was beset by unpredictable weather, and my legs are still feeling the burn of peddling through one too many gales. But it was nothing like the weather here, and I’ve been shocked to watch this week’s main news stories chart the catastrophic floods hitting the country.

While you can’t pin single weather events to climate change, the weather we’ve been experiencing recently certainly fits in with experts’ predictions of more extreme and unpredictable weather. There’s no doubt that the floods, the trauma and the associated insurance bill (currently estimated at £1 billion) have heightened people’s awareness of the possible consequences of climate change.

Commentators across the media are realising we may have to steel ourselves for an awful lot more of the same if we don’t take action to minimise climate change. The Association of British Insurers reckons that by 2080, global warming may have increased the annual cost of flooding in Britain by almost fifteen-fold, with potential losses of £22bn per year.

Not what people in Yorkshire want to hear right now...

The American media is waking up to climate change

We all like to moan that our friends across the Atlantic are hopeless when it comes to climate change.

But things are changing. Like Europe, the States have seen some unusually violent weather recently, with dramatic rainfall to match our own deluges. Combined with the rising cost of petrol, this seems to have finally woken up the American media to the environment, which is now in the US news like never before.

As a result, many more Americans now think that environmental problems are a major global threat (37% up from 23%, according to a recent Global Attitudes Project by the Washington Pew Centre). But they’re still a lot more sceptical than almost every country in Europe, where large majorities think global warming is a serious problem (ranging from 57% in Italy to 70% in Spain).

Embarrassingly, that same US study found that the UK is the only other ‘advanced industrial country’ where less than half the population (45%) say that global warming is very serious. So we definitely shouldn’t be patting ourselves on the back about how green we are yet.

Brits care more about dog mess than global warming

Just in case you think that an American study might be biased, I’m afraid that a new Mori poll also shows that an alarming number of people are still in denial over climate change. 56% of those polled believe experts are still divided over whether or not human activity is heating the planet, with 32% believing there's nothing we can do about its impacts.

Although 45% of people questioned said climate change was the greatest threat to mankind, terrorism, crime, graffiti and even dog mess were all higher on their list of local concerns.

I’m pretty depressed that so many people care more about poop scooping than the future of the planet. But what’s really worrying is that so may people still think that scientists themselves are still questioning the reality of climate change.

The fact is that almost all respected climate scientists believe that human-induced climate change is happening, and happening fast. They agree that we need to take action now if we’re to slow the effects and avoid catastrophic runaway climate change.

Let’s not wait until the flash floods have washed all the dog poo away before we listen and take action!

Should the media really still be calling this a 'debate'?

I can’t help thinking the media is partly to blame for people’s confusion about the science behind climate change. Many programmes still insist on discussing climate change as a 'balanced' 'debate', wheeling out one of the shrinking number of 'experts' still sceptical that climate change is happening every time they cover the issue.

I’ve been asked to do an programme on Radio 1 to tie in with the Live Earth concerts, and they’ll also be featuring someone who doesn’t think climate change is happening. The BBC has been accused of being biased towards climate change, but the facts speak for themselves: the vast majority of experts agree that human-induced climate change is happening. The only debate still to be had is how best to stop it becoming a run-away problem and minimise the devastation.

I’ll try to keep calm...

A mixed run-up to Live Earth

Preparations are hotting up across the globe for the forthcoming Live Earth concerts. The 90,000 tickets for the Wembley event sold out almost as fast as Anya Hindmarch eco bags. The second-biggest venue, in New York, is also receiving lots of coverage, but some other venues aren’t faring so well.

Organisers of the Brazilian event had hoped to lure more than 1 million people to a free concert on South America's most famous beach. But the event has been cancelled by a judge who ruled that the police are too busy dealing with drug-trafficking gangs to provide security.

Elsewhere, ticket sales are reported to be flagging with less than half sold for Hamburg’s event. Maybe the Germans feel they don’t need a musical reminder to live an eco-friendly lifestyle.

Technical glitches aside, let’s hope that the two billion people expected to watch worldwide prove the many media sceptics wrong by actually doing more than just enjoying the music with an eco-style feel-good glow. Of course a few concerts aren’t going to change the world on their own, but imagine the impact if everyone watching really does start to reduce their own carbon footprints and encourages businesses and politicians to do the same.

Time to revive the Wombles?

The BBC is warning it’ll have to show more repeats because it’s getting less money than hoped from licence fees. Look out for those original recyclers – the Wombles on a small screen near you soon...