A record amount of rain fell in the North of England last week; almost a winter month’s worth in one day in some places, resulting in widespread flooding in the region. It has been described as a 1 in 100 or 150 year flood event, even a 1 in 1000 year flood event, but hang on… did this not occur in 2000 (the wettest year on record), 2002, and 2003, and 2004, 2005 and 2007? If this kind of rainfall and flooding was a 1 in 150 year flood event, shouldn’t these floods occur over 1,000 years? But instead they occur within one decade, all in our tiny corner of the earth. Climate change is not just making the world warmer, but parts of it also drier and wetter. Therefore, phrases such as global wetting and global drying can be added to global warming in the climate change dictionary.

But the UK is not the only country experiencing extreme rainfall, winds and flooding. Remember Hurricane Katrina? And the Elbe flood in the Czech Republic in 2002, and flooding in Dresden in the same year (when water levels peaked at a record 9.4m)? Also, the Danube flooding in 2006? Extreme weather conditions have increased rapidly since the 1970s, although the effects of these have been exacerbated by overpopulation and urbanisation.

Sadly, as is often the case, those with the least means of protecting themselves are often the worst hit. More than a fifth of Bangladesh could be underwater by 2050 if current sea-level rises continue.

The developed world got us into this mess and it is up to the developed world to get us out. Let’s hope that something radical happens in Copenhagen next month, where the world’s leaders will meet to thrash out an agreement on climate change. I wouldn’t hold your breath… although you might have to once the floods come again!

Anthony

David Bellamy Japanese knotweed CO2

David Bellamy was a personal hero of mine and was responsible for my interest in botany as a young boy. His enthusiasm for science, plants and ecology led me to pursue a career in these fields of study.  When I was first involved in Japanese knotweed eradication as a conservation volunteer, almost twenty years ago, it was David Bellamy who inspired me.

It is rather sad then that David Bellamy is currently about as popular as Japanese knotweed in the environmental assessment industry. In a recent article in the Telegraph he denies that manmade CO₂ is a cause for concern. More worryingly, the article states that CO₂ is an airborne fertilizer, which is good for plants. However, it is for this precise reason that increased CO₂ is bad for plant ecology. Species like Japanese knotweed and other pioneering colonisers can make more effective use of available nutrients, like CO₂, which can result in their out-competing native, less adaptive and less vigorous growing species. This can result in significant reductions in biodiversity.

We still don’t know enough about the effects of elevated CO₂ and climate change on diverse plant communities, but we certainly know enough to discredit the simplistic and ill-considered views expressed by David Bellamy in the Telegraph article.

Bat surveys by Roy Cropper

If only Roy Cropper had asked Phlorum to do the bat survey for his society he wouldn’t have landed up in the canal by the hands of the murderer Tony Gordon. But the dramas of Coronation Street aside, Roy’s wife, Hayley,  is right in thinking that the bats should be hibernating by now and, consequently, it is still possible and necessary for bat surveys to be performed. Although bats do hibernate in the winter, if there is a spell of warm weather they will wake up and forage until it gets cold again.

We’ve not really had a frost yet down in the south of England. Consequently, there’s still some areas of unseasonably healthy Japanese knotweed growth about. It often surprises me how sturdy and resilient Japanese knotweed is. The photograph above is of some Japanese knotweed growing quite happily in amongst the concrete of East London in January, during a particularly mild winter in 2007! If we don’t get a frost soon, we might see similar knotweed growth this winter.

Remembrance day is the day we observe a two minute silence at 11 a.m. to remember all those who died in the Great War.

However, in Manchester in 1938 Captain Michelmore had been waiting for the winds to drop as he was under contract to the pea manufacturer, Batchelor, to advertise their product for an agreed number of hours in his biplane trailing a banner stating ‘Eat Bachelor’s Peas’. At mid-morning on 11th November 1938 the winds finally dropped and the clouds cleared to reveal a sunny sky; perfect for his task.

Unfortunately, he had forgotten the fact that at the stroke of eleven a crowd in the centre of Salford would lower their heads and remain silent to commemorate the Armistice. There he was, overhead, with engines roaring displaying his banner. Less than minutes later Batchelor’s office telephones were jammed with complaints. An action for defamation and breach of contract followed. The case set a precedent for recoverability of damages in breach of contract cases which remains good law to this day.

Jane

New research shows that the environmental impact of animals raised for food has been underestimated, and in fact accounts for 51% of annual greenhouse gas emissions worldwide, or 31.6 billion tonnes of CO2.

The report in this month’s World Watch magazine refutes the claims of a United Nations report (2006) which suggests that livestock emissions contribute 18% of GHG emissions. The authors, Robert Goodland and Jeff Anhang, argue that sources of livestock emissions have been underestimated, including respiration (as cattle is ‘man-made’), cost of land use (due to deforestation), release of methane and quantity of animals kept worldwide. Other sources have been overlooked entirely, such as cooking and disposal of waste, impacts of offshoot industries such as leather and fur, and packaging of products.

Franny Armstrong, director of ‘The Age of Stupid’ and a spearhead of the 10:10 campaign suggests that the most environmentally friendly action mankind could take is to become vegetarian, and that we have no chance of avoiding vast anthropogenic global warming without a massive decrease in livestock reared for consumption. Lord Stern has also contributed, saying that eating meat will soon become ‘socially unacceptable’ due to its carbon footprint.

So what to do? Eating meat is so ingrained in the British psyche that it is unlikely people will give up completely because of this news. But, by keeping issues in the limelight, we have seen encouraging signs of change from other environmental and health industries. We are still a way from having people cut down on flying or driving, but the need to reduce energy use is well documented, and energy saving actions have started to occur in even the most steadfast of homes. If the idea of eating meals without meat is given the same public attention as switching off the lights, turning down the thermostat and recycling, it is likely that gradually more and more people will see the environmental benefit and act accordingly.

However, we British don’t mind advice that benefits both the environment and our pockets, but when it takes food off our place, a line is crossed. I wouldn’t hold your breath for a veggie revolution just yet.

Anthony

I know it’s a touch late, but I noticed this article that likens the increase in celebrating Halloween by trick-or-treating to the invasive spread of Japanese knotweed.

The act of performing tricks on people who don’t deliver treats to costumed children was introduced as an “exotic” foreign activity in the 1980s and has since spread to become an expected part of British Halloween. Hmm… I suppose it’s a bit like Japanese knotweed; although I imagine Japanese knotweed is considered a bigger pain to more people than a bunch of kids dressed as vampires. Having said that, I’ve never had a bag of burning dog poo dumped on my doorstep…