Miserable weather...

So, we've had a miserable cloudy wet August with copious rainfall. How is this evidence of climate change? Terry Wogan, TOGMeister and leading vocal climate change denier, has used the weather as more evidence that global warming is a invention of the environmentalists. Hurricane Gustav is probably being cited in the same way in an American context.
The fact is that individual weather events can not be linked with climate change. Nor does climate change infer that we will be experiencing warmer sunny summers as standard. IT is the case however, that globally average temperatures are increasing. Climate change models also predict increasing storminess and greater variability in weather systems. We are seeing these trends on both sides of the Atlantic.

And is there any real evidence that our native wildlife is suffering from these changes? Well, I've just returned from a study trip to Scotland and it is clear that their uplands are changing at quite a rapid pace. The snowfields that once hung on in the corries of the Cairngorms well into summer are now a thing of the past. Indeed, the headwaters of rivers such as the Dee, which were once fed by cold snow melt, are now up to 2C warmer in summer. Such is the change that there is real concern that the 'King of Fish' that Atlantic Salmon may no longer be able to spawn in its headwaters.

The sensible argument for climate change is lets live within environmental limits, consume less and then, even if wrong (which personally believe is an enormous if) we will be leaving less of a mess. We are overspending hugley on our environmental credit card. A global environmental credit crunch would be much more serious than a stalled housing market and slow high street sales.