Norman Lynagh wrote:

Alastair B. McDonald wrote:

Sir James Bevan says extreme flooding in UK indicates urgent need for change
if humanity is to survive
https://www.theguardian.com/environm...isis-hitting-w
or st-case-scenarios-warns-environment-agency-head

Good to see someone in a position of some authority stepping up to the plate
and telling it how it is. The crux of the problem is that the damage is
already done. The atmospheric CO2 concentration is at a level that would have
been unthinkable 50 years ago. Reducing emissions to net-zero by 2050 or
whenever, even if achieved globally, won't go 25% of the way towards solving
the problem. Sadly, I see that the inevitable outcome will be that humanity
will have to adapt, without planning, to a very different world within the
next few decades. As I said elsewhere recently this is increasingly worrying
the younger you are. It's all too easy to visualise how hundreds of people
might die as a result of climate change before the end of the century and the
refugee problem has potential to become orders of magnitude greater than
anything we have seen so far. This is a bit of a slow-burner that is unlikely
to have a happy ending. It will likely reach a scale in the relatively near
future that will make the Covid-19 pandemic seem like a side-show. Part of me
is glad that I won't be around for long enough to see how this eventually
pans out and part of me would like to see how it does all evolve. We should
all fear for our grand-children and their children, though.

Correction: In the middle of the above paragraph 'hundreds of people' should
read 'hundreds of millions of people'. It makes a difference!

--
Norman Lynagh
Tideswell, Derbyshire
303m a.s.l.
https://peakdistrictweather.org
Twitter: @TideswellWeathr