Why the Mediterranean climate message is all wrong
We have a job to convince people of the gravity of climate change if the worst that is predicted for the UK is a future of balmy Mediterranean summers
George Monbiot, guardian.co.uk, 18 June 2009 [here]
The problem with persuading people in the UK to take climate change seriously is that, as far as we are concerned, it sounds quite attractive. The government’s new climate projections predict drier summers and a possible 5C temperature rise in the south of England by 2080. Isn’t this what we have spent our lives hoping and praying for?
I am writing this (such are the wonders of mobile broadband) on a promenade bench in a windy Welsh seaside town. I can’t sit indoors because the signal’s not strong enough. I’ve buttoned up my jacket and raised the collar, but I’m still freezing. It looks as if the great British summer has struck again. Even as I demand drastic action to forestall the events the government predicts, a small, guilty part of me hopes that they come to pass. … [more]
Note: Don’t feel guilty, George. Warmer Is Better. Go with the flow. Besides which, there is no empirical evidence that higher levels of CO2 (whether natural or manmade) will have any discernible impact on the climate.