This summer will hopefully prove the impetus needed for greater adaptation in the face of climate change both within the farming and food industry and for us as consumers.
We will all need to be thinking about eating and therefore growing different crops, and less of some and more of others. For farmers it will also be about different methods of farming.
Ongoing research and field evidence points to the importance of maintaining good soils. Soils that are full of organic material and active life forms – from worms to mycorrhizal fungi – are soils that retain more moisture and nutrients for crops.
Shading the soil – and often the crops too – helps reduce moisture loss and sunburn, and creates a micro climate so that moisture returns back into the soil.
Many farmers are increasing water storage, creating ponds, wetlands and reservoirs.
Trialing different crops is also happening, but is sometimes hindered by the unpredictability of the weather. A hot summer preceded by a dry spring will favour different crops from a hot summer preceded by a wet spring.
As consumers we will need to be willing to accept different fruits and vegetables in our shopping baskets – and more willing to eat seasonally. We may too want to be adaptive in our gardens, ensuring good soil, using shade to advantage, trying different crops – and different flowering and herbaceous plants. We too can invest in extra water butts to store more water.
These are some initial thoughts on things that we could do as individuals, as communities and as a society.
Insulate all buildings – insulation helps maintain a comfortable internal temperature, warm enough in winter and cooler enough in summer. Think how a cool bag or thermos flask can be used both to keep cold things cool and hot things warm.
Government and local authorities can ensure that this happens through mandates, loans and grants.
‘Enough’ is a key word – warm enough in winter maybe 16-18C whilst cool enough in summer may be 24-26C.
As well as insulation, adaptation to buildings – domestic and otherwise – should include shading of walls and windows exposed to the sun. This could be in the form verandas, awnings, blinds, shutters and planting of climbing or other shade-giving plants. These ideally would provide shade from the summer sun but allow winter warming when the sun’s rays fall at a lower angle.
Other natural cooling could include vents at high-level that draw out hot air without allowing hot air back in and which can create a cooling air flow.
In some situations – such as hospitals and care homes – air conditioning may well be essential. Who will foot the bill? The taxpayer?
Prisons too should be be considered for air conditioning as people confined to a small space with limited options for cooling are vulnerable.
For some vulnerable groups – the old and very young, people with particular disabilities or ailments – additional provision of air conditioning at home may be necessary. Who will foot the bill? The tax payer who might then avoid the higher cost of medical care? Should grants/ loans be means-tested?
Consider providing schools and libraries with air conditioning if these can then also be used as cool hubs for other users. Encourage community networks that can check up on vulnerable people.
Expand number of cool hubs – encourage pubs, churches, community halls and libraries to participate – provide grants to encourage this. This map shows what is currently publicly available in London – https://apps.london.gov.uk/cool-spaces/
Install more drinking water points and encourage people to carry refillable drinking bottles.
Public health campaigns to encourage everyone to use a sunhat and/or parasol.
Switch to double summer time so that in the summer we are getting up two hours earlier when the day is much cooler. (The clock change could take place at the May bank holiday).
Set the school day to start an hour earlier to maximise use of cooler air. This would also encourage businesses and shops to adopt earlier opening hours.
Switch the school year to start in January so that exams can be held when the weather is cooler. Consider dividing the academic year into four terms.
Encourage adoption of an afternoon siesta to include shops and businesses – but also consider could/ would this time be of benefit to staff.
Legislate for maximum working temperatures. Legislate for regular – paid for – rest periods during hot weather.
Mandate welfare provision such as access to toilets, drinking water, cool spaces etc for all work environments including bus, lorry and delivery drivers.
Expand planting of trees in streets and parks to create more cool places.
Expand the creation of parklets to provide cool resting places.
Encourage where practical replacement of hard surfaces and drive ways with grass or other suitable planting. Encourage generally more planting to create localised cooler microclimates – as well as supporting biodiversity.
Public health campaign to encourage active travel so as to reduce the number of cars driving or parked on the streets where they absorb and radiate heat.
Encourage shops and businesses to install awnings to provide protection from the sun in summer and rain in winter.
Mandate that premises using air conditioning keep doors closed to conserve energy. Such premises should not be attempting to cool the whole street! A public health campaign could encourage closing doors and windows to keep the heat out.
“Let’s dispense with any idea that climate finance is charity;” runaway climate change is impacting “every single individual in the world one way or another,” Mr. Stiell, the UN climate chief, said on Monday.
Why do poorer nations (in particular) need climate finance? Because it can enable them to:
take action to mitigate against the causes of climate change – eg switching to renewable energy, replacing wood/coal fired cooking stoves with electric ones, greening heavy industry;
take action to adapt to the ongoing effects of climate change – eg insulating buildings against extremes of heat, upgrading flood defences, improving early weather warning systems;
cover the costs of damage caused by extreme weather and other destructive effects caused by climate change.
Adapting lifestyles and infrastructure to cope with the already present aspects of the climate crisis do not come cheaply – although it is definitely (infinitely) cheaper than the cost of making good the damage that would otherwise occur.
Not all countries can afford these essential costs. As a matter of justice and of common human decency we need to count on the world leaders to both agree and – most importantly – to pay their fair contribution to enable all global citizens to be protected.
“Poorer developing nations are struggling to find the money to meet those increasingly urgent challenges, with this week’s Adaptation Gap report putting their annual adaptation needs at $215 billion-$387 billion, against international public funding of about $28 billion in 2022.
Wealthy governments say they’re on track to deliver a goal to double adaptation finance from 2019 levels by 2025, to around $40 billion a year – but that would only reduce the adaptation finance gap by about 5%, the report warned. (1)
Even if we stop adding carbon dioxide to the atmosphere, the CO2 that is already there will not immediately diminish. It will be there for decades to come, meaning that the higher global temperatures that we are already experiencing will also not diminish any time soon. And this means that the extreme weather events that we are now experiencing – floods, droughts, heatwaves, wild fires etc – are not going to diminish either. We therefore need to count on the world leaders at COP29 to agree measures to help us adapt to the changes in the climate that we have already caused – improved flood defences, developing new farming models, conserving water, expanding early weather warning systems, heat proofing buildings etc.
What is the difference between mitigation and adaptation?
“Climate change mitigation means avoiding and reducing emissions of heat-trapping greenhouse gases into the atmosphere to prevent the planet from warming to more extreme temperatures. Climate change adaptation means altering our behaviour, systems, and—in some cases—ways of life to protect our families, our economies, and the environment in which we live from the impacts of climate change. The more we reduce emissions right now, the easier it will be to adapt to the changes we can no longer avoid.” https://www.worldwildlife.org/stories/what-s-the-difference-between-climate-change-mitigation-and-adaptation
The UK government runs a National Adaptation Programme which assesses the risks arising from climate change and how best we can adapt to reduce of cope with these risks – as well as building on any opportunities where we can gain from change. These plans are reviewed and every five years a new National Adaptation Programme is produced. NAP3 covers the period from 2023 to 2028. It includes items such as:
“protecting the natural environment
supporting business in adapting to climate change
adapting infrastructure (for example, our electricity networks and railways)
protecting buildings and their surroundings (for example, from hotter temperatures)
protecting public health and communities
mitigating international impacts on the UK (for example, on food supplies imported from abroad)”
“Julia King, chair of the adaptation subcommittee of the CCC, said: “The evidence of the damage from climate change has never been clearer, but the UK’s current approach to adaptation is not working. The national adaptation plan published last July, known as Nap3, was the third in a series of five-yearly updates in response to an assessment of climate risks, required under the 2008 Climate Change Act, from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
“But the CCC found that although it was an improvement on previous efforts, the new plan was still inadequate and required improvement before the next scheduled update in 2028.
Support climate adaptation projects at home and overseas
The Grantham Institute explains adaptation thus:
“Humans have been adapting to their environments throughout history by developing practices, cultures and livelihoods suited to local conditions – from the Mediterranean siesta to the Vietnamese practice of building homes on stilts to protect against monsoonal rains. However, climate change raises the possibility that existing societies will experience climatic shifts (in temperature, storm frequency, flooding and other factors) that previous experience has not prepared them for. As average global temperatures rise, the impacts of climate change and their associated losses and damage are likely to increase more rapidly and more unpredictably.
“Adaptation seeks to reduce the risks posed by climate changes, and to benefit from any associated opportunities where possible. It is one of two main policy responses to climate change, the other being mitigation – reducing greenhouse gas emissions to address the root causes. Both approaches are necessary because even if emissions are dramatically decreased over the coming decade, further warming is now unavoidable and adaptation will be needed to deal with the climatic changes already set in motion.” https://www.lse.ac.uk/granthaminstitute/explainers/what-is-climate-change-adaptation/
In the UK, adaptation could include insulating buildings so they stay warmer in winter and cooler in summer; planting more trees to provide shade and cooling in summer and to trap rain water to limit flooding; restoring and creating new peat bogs and wetlands areas again to absorb excess water (and carbon too); re-wilding rivers and restoring water meadows to absorb and slow the rate of flow of water to prevent flooding; changing the school timetable and working day to allow people to rest during the middle of the day during heat waves and to work instead in the cooler hours earlier in the day – a siesta; not building on flood plains or close to the coast where rising water levels present a risk; relocating buildings and contents which are at risk of flood damage; growing plants more suited to our new climate including agriculture crops; making good use of solar and wind energy.
As a rich nation we need to help less affluent – and often more critically affected – nations adapt to the changing climate. The options for adaptation will be similar in nature to those for the UK – insulating buildings to protect against extremes of heat; using vegetation and the restoration of natural habitats; adapting agricultural and work practices; harnessing renewable energy.
We can support adaptation projects with funds and/or volunteering with local projects; campaigning to support projects particularly when they are opposed by government or big business; providing funding for overseas projects through charities such as Practical Action and Oxfam, as well as pressing the government to contribute at the scale necessary to make a different and to reflect our moral obligations.
It is only a week since we endured a two day extreme heatwave but is it already passing out mind, out of sight? Let’s continue to talk about climate change and how it is already affecting us. Let’s plan now for how we will help each other cope better during the next heatwave. This may come this summer, or maybe next, but it will certainly come.
Last week the Green Tau focused on Richmond and the likely effects of the increased risk of flooding arising from climate change. This week the focus will be on Tarawa, one of the 33 atolls that makes up the Pacific nation of Kiribati.
Tarawa is one of the largest of Kiribati atolls and is home to one 60,000 people, about 53% of the total population. Seen from above, Tarawa is a long thin strip of land that curves to form two sides of a triangle, in the middle of which is a lagoon. (Atolls are islands created by volcanic action. The former crater forms a dip in the middle). The third side of the triangle is below sea level and is home to a coral reef. It has a very long coast line in proportion to its land area. The land is flat and low lying, rising to about 2-3m above sea level. Beaches on the lagoon side tend to be wider and shallower than this on the ocean side.
Scientific research suggests that the rise in average sea levels for Tarawa, by 2100, will be between 0.5 (if the global temperature increase is kept below 1.5C) to 1.2m (if the increase in the worst case is 5-6C). Present projections suggest we are on track for a 2.7C temperature rise – and a projected sea level rise for Tarawa of 0.6m. High tide is typically 1.2m above the mean sea level, but is subject to variation. For example tide levels rise during periods when the El Niño weather system is dominant because the high pressure lifts sea levels. Because of its shape, with along coast lines and narrow low lying land mass, Tarawa – like many similar atolls and islands – is very vulnerable to rising seas levels. The people of Tarawa can see that before the end of this century they may no longer have an island on which to live!
Sea levels also rise markedly when drive by cyclones. The Republic of Kiribati used not to be affected by tropical cyclones but with increasing global temperatures and changing weather patterns, this is no longer so. Not only do cyclones produce flooding with high waves, but the strong winds are particularly destructive to low lying lands such as on Tarawa with the winds breaking sea defences, ripping up vegetation and blowing away soil. (Soil depths are already shallow because these volcanic atolls are relatively youthful in geological terms).
Tarawa is located on the Equator and it has a tropical rainforest climate. It rains on average every other day, with a high of rainfall of about 300mm a month in January and a minimum of 100mm in September. This ensures that the water table is regularly topped up. However the land above sea level at Tarawa is narrow, with saline after on both sides. Rising sea levels leads to the contamination of freshwater supplies with salt. This reduces water for drinking etc as well as damaging agricultural crops and plant life generally.
Rising global temperature affect not just the air but also ocean temperatures. Since preindustrial times, global sea surface temperatures have risen by 0.7C. The rate of increase has risen in recent decades and particularly so in the last 6 years. Temperatures rises are not uniform and have been more marked in the southern Pacific waters. The IPCC predicts sea temperatures may rise by 1.2 to 3.2C by 2100 (depending on our ability to reduce carbon emissions). Rising sea temperatures affect marine life generally and reefs in particular. Temperature rises in the region of 1C can cause the bleaching of coral reefs. This draining of colour shows that the coral is stressed, and is likely to die. Associated with heat rises accentuated by El Niño, Tarawa has had repeated incidences of coral bleaching. When coral reefs die and break down, they no longer protect local shores from erosion nor protect lagoons from destructive waves that destroy the particular ecology of those calmer waters. The loss of coral reefs also leads to losses of marine biodiversity.
Tarawa and the rest of the atolls in the Republic of Kiribati are not alone in facing these devastating effects of climate change. In 1990 they and other similarly vulnerable countries formed the Alliance of Small Island States to give themselves collectively a more voluble voice in discussion and proposals around the climate crisis. The AOSIS was a particularly strong presence at the Paris Climate Conference in 2015. Their voice was also heard at the Glasgow COP last year although because of covid fewer delegates were able to attend. One of those unable to travel was the former President of Kiribati, Anote Tong. Speaking from home, he told ITV News that beyond 2030 “our very existence might be in jeopardy”.
In 2012 Tong bought a 2700 hectare estate on the island of Vanue Levu in Fiji as a refuge for the citizens of Kiribati, plus a further 2000 hectares in 2014. Between 2003 and 2015 the Kiribati Adaptation Plan was executed using money raised by the United Nations from wealthy donors such as Australia This included projects such as planting mangrove palms to limit coastal erosion, strengthening sea wall defences, and installing rainwater butts to help safeguard fresh water supplies.
In 2020 the new President of Kiribati, Taneti Maamau, announced plans, in conjunction with China, to artificially build up parts of Tarawa, to raise them above projected sea level rises.
In the mean time other adaptations projects are on going to improve the islanders’ living standards and build up their resilience in the face of flooding. These include encouraging islanders to develop traditional food gardens to protect against sudden food shortages (much of Kiribati’s food is imported), developing fish management schemes to prevent over fishing, and increasing provision shade to protect people from adverse temperatures. Consideration is now being given to using the land bought in Fiji to provide food for Kiribati. It seems that due to poverty, the people of Kiribati are not well equipped to cope with the extra demands and risks of the climate crisis. Equally important are these projects designed to improve their living standards, health and well being.
