Related Posts
Drought risk for northwest England: Hosepipe bans on the way?
Parts of northwest England may face hosepipe bans and drought orders after experiencing the lowest winter and spring...
Dry Spell in North West England Threatens Wildlife During the Victorian era, an unfortunate fashion du jour left thousands of dead egrets and birds of...' src='http://gf0.statico.be/wp-content/themes/greenfudge/thumbnails/7749.jpg' alt='breaking-news-italy-faces-ecological-disaster-from-oil-spill' class='art-teaser' width='95' height='95' />Breaking News: Italy Faces ‘Ecological Disaster’ from Oil Spill Yesterday, an oil spill occurred in one of Italy’s small, northern rivers. Today, that spill reached the Po...
Drought crisis in Philippines
Typhoons in October devastated agriculture and caused heavy damages to infrastructure in the Philippines. Now a drought is...
A drought big as Texas
As droughts cause famines in poor parts of the world like Somalia, they also affect the developed world,...
Tip of the Day
To save energy, remember to turn off the light when leaving a room
England faces long-term drought “disaster”
photo by Jim Barton (Fellwalker on Flickr CC)
Dry weather in much of England is threatening to devastate farming and wildlife, and could extend past next Christmas.
Parts of England have entered official drought status, with water rationing measures in place. Soils are so dried out that recent rains did little to help conditions.
This may sound like strange weather in a country known for rain rather than droughts, especially in April, but the dangers are all too real.
Helen Vale, national drought coordinator at the Environment Agency is quoted in the Guardian:
The amount of water that we use at home and in our businesses has a direct effect on the amount of water available in the environment, for wildlife and for farmers, so we would urge everyone to start using less water now, whether or not they live in an area with a hosepipe ban.
Average citizens are likely to also be affected by price hikes for certain foods and beverages, namely domestically grown soft fruits and vegetables as well as beer produced in the UK.
(Now I’m sensing panic.)
But inconveniences for humans are nothing compared to what England’s wildlife is going through.
From the BBC:
The Wildlife Trusts says prolonged drought not only reduces drinking and bathing water for birds, but makes it harder for birds, small mammals, amphibians and reptiles that feed on insects and worms.
17 counties in England have been declared official drought zones by the Environment Agency, but everyone around the country is being encouraged to save water.
Read more in the Independent and in this article by the UK Press Association.
2 Comments
You can also log in to post a comment.
Other Greenfudge.org posts
‘Leaked’ document anything new? More thoughts on UN climate talks in Bonn
An article in the Guardian, which I linked in yesterday's post on the results of the Bonn climate talks, reproduces the text to a supposed confidential document outlining US policy vis-à-vis international climate negotiations. The document is described as revealing of US President Barack Obama's 'hardline' climate talk strategy. The most incriminatingly hardline-sounding part of the text is this point: 5) Deepen support and understanding from the developing world that advanced developing countries must be part of any meaningful solution to climate...
Committee on Climate Change: UK must invest in green tech
The UK’s independent advisory body established under the Climate Change Act has stated that Britain needs to invest more in low carbon technologies in order to meet its goal of cutting 1990 emissions levels by 80% by the year 2050. The Committee on Climate Change (CCC) was established with the purpose of reporting to the UK’s parliament regarding the country’s progress in cutting greenhouse gas emissions. The fear is that Britain will be left behind if it does not fund technological...
UK study says trees play major role in urban health, air quality and flood protection
Joyce Kilmer’s 1913 poem ‘Trees’ was not only sickly-sweet, but also pretty darn apt regarding how important our woody friends truly are. The British conservation charity Woodland Trust has published a report detailing the important role of native trees in urban environments. The report, entitled, ‘Greening the concrete jungle’, claims that more trees and woods in urban areas are needed in order to improve general health and wellness, reduce the risk of surface water flooding, raise the quality of life, support wildlife...
NATO chief on security and climate change
Anders Fogh Rasmussen is the Secretary-General of NATO and former Prime Minister of Denmark. In an interview with CNN, Rasmussen discusses the relationship between security and climate change. New challenges and potentialities for conflict are exacerbated by phenomena such as water shortages, flooding and the 'opening of new sea routes' according to the NATO chief. 'The problem is that those countries that suffer the most severe consequences of climate change are also the most fragile states, which increases the risk...
Update on Iceland volcano: European flights remain grounded
Winds are blowing ash from of Iceland's Eyjafjallajökull volcano into skies across Europe, keeping nearly all flights in and out of the UK suspended until at least 1 am on Sunday. According to reports in the Guardian, the shutdown could continue into next week: Few, if any flights, are expected over the weekend in England and Wales and the shutdown could carry into next week. Last night Ryanair cancelled all flights in the area until at least 1pm on Monday, citing...
Petro dollars or renewable energy: Make it while we can?
A new study by the WWF says it’s possible to cut global carbon emissions by 80% by the year 2050 by investing heavily in green tech. Kind of like China is doing, but without all the investment in fossil fuels that they are also doing. The report claims that we could source 95% of our energy from renewables. While we are currently using and demanding more and more energy intensive goods and services, energy saving measures are in fact reducing the...
Mexico City Transportation Goes Green with New Ecobici System
Mexico City, host of the climate summit event later this year, has started an awesome, new bicycle program this spring. At the launch of Ecobici, the city installed 1,100 bikes at 85 stations around the city center. Within the first 3 months, at least 4,000 people have used the program and a total of 50,000 trips have been taken throughout the city thus far. To make things even better, there have been no accidents and no thefts. The city hopes 24,000...
PETA May be Held Responsible for Mistreatment and Deaths of Exotic Animals
PETA: An organization that promotes the ethical treatment of animals—or is it? Over the years, PETA has faced a lot of complaints, controversy and lawsuits that would strongly suggest they are not quite the animal lovers they claim to be and it would seem that they’ve found themselves in the hot seat yet again. U.S. Global Exotics—a company that specializes in global delivery of exotic animals—has taken PETA to court in an attempt to regain custody of more than 26,000 animals...
The “Brinicle” ice-finger of death freezes everything on its path in just a few seconds
Nature can strike relentlessly, and so does water. The “Brinicle” ice-finger of death is one of nature’s most bizarre and dangerous phenomenons, capable of freezing everything on it’s path in only a few seconds. Yes you heard it right: in only a few seconds! And now there is video footage of this ice-finger of death, filmed for the first time by the brave journalists of the spectacular BBC series “Frozen Planet”, who where able to capture this underwater tornado near the...
Breaking News: 7.8 Earthquake Hits Sumatra
A 7.8 earthquake just hit Sumatra, off the coast of Aceh. Panic ensued and electricity was cut off after the quake happened. The epicenter of the quake was 127 miles (204 km) west-northwest of Sibolga and located at a depth of 28.6 miles (46 km). People have been making their way to higher ground in some areas and at least 3 aftershocks have occurred since. According to the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, there is no immediate threat of a destructive, widespread tsunami....
View all articles
Yes… makes me think about how big our populations are, dependent we are on large-scale agriculture. The way this is affecting people in England seems to be mainly that they can’t hose their gardens, which is inconvenient for them and unpleasant, but it’s nothing to do with survival or major lifestyle changes.
Yeah, humans can always improvise to quench their thirst or to freshen up unlike those animals that are simply dependent on nature’s water not only as their food source but happens to be their haven at the same time….Kinda odd to think that when places are submerge with water, it’s hard to figure out where those water coming from and when will it last.. everything about our climate is so unpredictable that sometimes it doesn’t make any sense at all but perhaps nature is just throwing it all back to us to be most sensible….