Hmm…I haven’t enjoyed this winter. I expect most of the human race are thinking similar thoughts. I have been so angry and worried about the virus, and the repeated errors of judgement by the government. I could maybe forgive some mistakes in the early weeks but seeing them made over and over is maddening….and of course deadly and extremely stressful for everyone in the frontline. Thanks to some great work by the NHS, the vaccine rollout has been going well (happy to get my first jab!) and things have been looking optimistic. That we have the dark cloud of the ‘Indian variant’ of covid to worry about is crazy. There are no excuses for it: we’re an island; and could / should have set up travel restrictions and quarantine procedures to keep us safe. If a third wave of the virus ruins this summer, I think I will lose the last of my marbles!

It’s good to get that off my chest. There is also a link to climate change that is on my mind: the concerning link between the government response to the covid crisis and our readiness as a country to adapt to the changing climate. Recently I was looking at the Climate Change Committee’s 2019 report on preparing for climate change, it makes for quite depressing reading (there is an infographic at the bottom of the webpage which summarises the poor state of play). Only a handful of sectors have plans, those that do have only planned as far as 2 degrees C of climate change…which is very optimistic at the moment (see Why haven’t we fixed climate change yet?). Dithering over decisions, and failing to be prepared has cost us dearly in the face of covid. The country is doing the same on adaptation, and the consequences and the costs are going to be grave unless we turn things around.

The sooner that public enquiry happens – into the government handling of covid – the better. Chance would be a fine thing I’m sure but, besides helping to shake some more sense into the current crisis management, I really hope it will wake people up to other issues (like climate change) that we are also poorly prepared for. A wake-up call I hope for the electorate and for those who would govern us…

And, as ever, noticing the increasing number of extreme events is like listening to the ticking clock of climate change. I haven’t been watching too closely but, since the flooding in the winter, Spring has given us some interesting weather. May was very wet, and that comes straight after the [provisional] 4th driest April in the 159 year record. Wonder what the Summer is going to bring?

Update

Since my last blog post Looking forward to the Climate Festival it has been a busy time – lots going on at work – and I haven’t had the head-space to post anything new. Hopefully the clouds are starting to clear now though. And some good things have been happening on climate change, and water-related activities. I’ve been lucky enough to be involved in the following, which are worth checking out: