Getting warmer

6 August 2004The monsoon flood which hit London and parts of southern England on Tuesday, causing sewers to overflow and thousands of dead fish to float down the Thames, was a salutary reminder of the effects of worldwide climate change in years to come. Nor was it the best time to learn that the government is scrapping a £2bn scheme to save the Thames from returning to the Great Stink of the early Victorian age. The water companies, complaining yesterday that the Ofwat regulator has only allowed average price increases of 13% over the next five years (half of what they asked for) will need to be watched carefully to ensure that they invest enough in flood prevention and the renovation of obsolete sewage networks. We as citizens have an equally important role in promoting more economical water use and curbing pollution.

Most of us accept in theory, according to a recent ICM poll for the BBC, that human activity is responsible for changing the world's climate. Yet although nearly everyone (85%) professes willingness to make changes to help the environment, far fewer (54%) believe it will make any difference. With such scepticism, it is open to doubt just how many of those who say they will "use the car less" or "take fewer flights" will do so. Commenting on the poll, Friends of the Earth warns we are "sleep-walking to disaster".

The problem is that the real disasters, from floods in south Asia to melting glaciers in the Andes, are happening a long way off and usually get only modest coverage. The latest toll for the recent Bangladesh floods is 10 million homeless, 660 people dead, and more than $6bn losses to the country's agriculture, industry and infrastructure. The shrinkage of glaciers reported this week from Peru, although it only affects a handful of people - mostly climbers and tourists - should be just as alarming. According to Peru's national environmental council, the country has lost 20% of its glaciers in the last 30 years. Similar reports are coming in from Alaska, where Nasa says glaciers are melting at a speed which increases the chance of future earthquakes.

The government's chief scientist, Sir David King, has warned that London will be one of "the first cities to go" if the planet's ice continues to melt, and in April Tony Blair himself described the threat of climate change as the world's biggest problem. Yet public scepticism will only be dissolved by a real shift in priorities. As Sir David has also said, global warming is a greater challenge than global terrorism; until that message gets taken in, environmental anguish will be reserved for rainy days.

http://politics.guardian.co.uk/green/comment/0,9236,1277602,00.html