Not sure if you heard about this but since record keeping started (250 years ago) this is the most precipitation to ever fall in the United Kingdom. Flooding is rampant and people are having to bail out their living rooms on more than one occasion. Check out the article and think:
1) Does it seem that more frequent and powerful storms are happening lately? What could be attributing to this rise?
2) Here is a wealthy country where no money will be spared to help the victims. What happens to countries that don't have this kind of wealth?
3) What kind of global fallout could happen from this catastrophe?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-26153889
this is my weekly post,
ReplyDeleteIn 2007 the UK also experienced extremely bad flooding, I was in England during that summer and it was a scary experience. Many people I knew and one of my aunts had to evacuate their homes and my aunt lost multiple fields due to extreme flooding. At one point my grandparents and I had to leave a town we were visiting as it was being closed off for fear of the imminent flood waters that were approaching. That flooding cost the economy £3.2bn and seeing as the floods this year are even worse, the British government probably cannot afford to put as much effort into helping the victims as they did seven years ago. They have reason to worry because an environment agency has predicted that by 2035, costs from flood damage will rise 60%. Many scientists believe that the reason for this extreme amount of rainfall is a cause of global warming. Storms that originated in the Pacific Ocean, 7,000 miles away from the UK spun around and headed eastward on the back of the jet stream. Warm air from mostly from man made global warming, is making storms stronger and stronger each year. "In the tropical Western Pacific, near Indonesia, unusually warm sea surface temperatures have led to above-average rainfall for much of the winter. This added heat to the atmosphere and altered the shape of the jet stream as it moved from west to east across the Northern Hemisphere." This altered jet stream is the reason that the UK is facing more precipitation and harsh winds than ever before. Other problems in the world that are being caused by the change in our climates are drought in the US, extremely cold winters in China, horrific typhoons in the Phillipines, huge snow storms all over the world and record breaking earthquakes. People need to realize that the way we impact our world is going to effect the lives of everyone all over the world. Our changing weather could only be the beginning of our problems and people don't begin to make changes in the way we live our lives.
it didn't show my sources so here you go;
Deletehttp://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8464717.stm
http://mashable.com/2014/02/10/britain-floods-global-warming/#_
I agree with you Anneli, we need to change the way we live our lives. To either accommodate with these changes or at least slow it down. You can see that even in Barrie we have experienced some extreme temperatures this winter as well as snow storms. I can only see it getting worse. I believe that if our generation doesn't act upon this issue now the next generation will be facing a much bigger problem that may be too late to solve.
DeleteI agree with you guys as well! Not only can we see it in these areas but I just came back from Windsor, and one of the locals told me that this was the most snow and coldest weather they have had for 50 years. I honestly think we should start encouraging the young adult generation to make changes in order for their children to do the same. If we do not make these changes, it will just continually get worse. Like I said in an earlier post, the cost of making a change is worth a lot less than the entire planet.
DeleteCool. Too bad about your trip being disrupted by the floods but I think this is something we will have to consider when travelling.
ReplyDelete