Flooding and global warming…
Monday, July 23rd, 2007 by Nigel
The writer of the blog wibbley.net is in one of the areas affected by flooding. The local water company have been telling consumers they only have a few hours supply left; and not wanting to be a water hoarder he (?she) has been working out how to use less.
Drinking water isn’t a problem, I’ll just buy bottled water and other drinks. Cooking isn’t a problem as I’ll just buy microwave meals until the supply comes back on. I probably will be able to clean plates with very little water, that can come from bottles or even better just eat out of the packaging.
I’ve got a full tank of hot water, usually this lasts two to three showers. I’ve had a navy shower today. If I continue like that I reckon I should be able to get this tank to last out a week if I don’t use the water for anything else…
… he writes, linking to Nigel’s Eco Blog for an explanation of what the Navy Shower entails, which makes me, in relatively flood-free Brighton, glad that I posted that piece. I wish them well there. It must be utterly miserable, as it was in Hull a few weeks ago.
Tonight’s news on the flooding featured the Government’s Chief Scientist Sir David King trying to explain Very Patiently to the journalist that, no, you can’t blame a single extreme weather event on global warming, but you could say that global warming was making raising the baseline for extreme weather events.
It’s this kind of reasoned, cautious answer that journalism hates. They just want to be able to say: “Scientist says global warming caused flood!”
Considering he has been warning about the increase in precisely this sort of event for several years now he manages to avoid looking smug, as well. Not that there’s anything to look remotely smug about.
The photo of flooding in Winchcombe last month was taken by John Drinkwater, who captioned it: “Awoke at six-ish to the sound of water pouring through the garden, woke family, watched house flood inside and out, then spent the day tidying up.”
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