I came down briefly as the boys were getting ready to go to school but as everything was going smoothly, I wasn't needed (infact my presence might have been counterproductive!) so I went back to bed, read and fell asleep. Gill joined me when she got back from delivering our youngest to school.
So, a lazy morning but got going just before lunch by cycling round to the bread shop for 'Yesterbake', the unsold bread from yesterday sold at vastly reduced prices. Great to reduce waste. Good on the pocket too, when on a low income! I called in on Lynne too, to pick up the remaining posters about the LETS Xmas Fayre which I hope to deliver on Friday to places which will display them.
I've been very moved by the scenes of destruction from Cumbria following the heavy rain last week and the flooding which ensued. Lives have been wrecked, businesses disrupted, and it'll take years to recover. But there's something doubly bad about this, and similar weather-related catastrophes. It is almost unquestioned now that a warming world will have more energy in weather systems and therefore stronger winds, heavier rain, greater extremes. So we need to expect more 'one in a thousand year' events, more often. BUT, the aftermath of these events has an even bigger carbon footprint that 'business as usual'. Looking at the Cockermouth example, with bridges washed away, people are no longer able to walk from one side of the town to their work or school on the other... they now have a 2 hour drive. Every house affected by floodwater, often contaminated with sewage, will throw out furniture, electricals, carpets, foodstuffs, cars... plaster off the walls even. And most of this will be replaced. Think of the carbon cost of that! And the same goes for rebuilding the bridges and getting the roads and other infrastructure back in working order... not only will this cost many tens of millions of pounds but it will have a huge carbon footprint, adding to the already vast problem.
I'm thinking ahead to when London floods in the same way as Cockermouth just has, or Canvey Island and the East Coast in 1953. This could happen anytime... in a few weeks, with a storm surge plus high tides plus extreme heavy rain, or in a decade, with higher sea levels and extreme weather, or many years ahead. It will happen, we just don't know when. If the barriers are topped in the next few years, it is likely that much of the damage will be repaired and Londoners will try to get back to 'normal'. But in a few decades, when the price of resources and fuel have risen because of peak oil and increasing consumption, it may be deemed too expensive to try and rebuild in the same place. It may be deemed silly to try to rebuild, as the risk of flooding in the same area will be steadily increasing due to sea level rise and even the fact that the East of England is slowly subsiding, geologically-speaking.
The UK has plenty of land well above sea level, but places like the Maldives, Kiribati, Bangladesh and the Netherlands are particularly at risk. The sea level rose about 20cm last century and that has been enough to engulf a couple of islands in Kiribati, and contaminate fresh-water wells, wash away farmland, etc. Kiribati today, London tomorrow.
These scenarios are just one of the reasons I'm committed to living a low carbon lifestyle. I don't want to be 'blamed' for these kind of difficulties. I really have a desire to be remembered as a 'responsible ancestor', but one who had fun living that way too.
If readers are interested in flood maps connected with sea level rise, visit this interactive map http://flood.firetree.net/ and go to the part of the World you're interested in and put in the level of sea level rise you're concerned about. Predictions are a metre higher by the end of this century, but it could be such a lot more... depending on the amount of, for instance, ice melting off Greenland. If this all goes, we should expect 6 to 8 metres increase in global seal level. This is unlikely to happen in this century, but it does depend on the amount of warming the area is subjected to. Sea level rise is not just caused by melting glaciers etc, but also by the water expanding as it gets warmer. The science is clear and simple, but the predictions are very varied.
I didn't spend all of the day pondering this or researching it... I did a good bit of work in the garden and some housework too, finishing the tomato soup I started yesterday, cooking the other bits for tea, on the woodstove of course, as I get increasingly unwilling to use the gas rings to heat things up. I did some more log stacking as we're going through a lot more now the weather has cooled down and our big stove is going 24 hours a day.
David popped round at lunchtime to deliver the CD with my new Fiddlesticks publicity leaflet on it, and some of the photos he's taken to prepare for this document. Now I have to find a printer who is prepared to use recycled card and run me off a few hundred of them...
I had a phone call from the BBC film-maker to ask a few questions and to find out if I'm available to go into the Look North studios next Wednesday. They'll show the short film with the low carbon footprint person and the don't care person, and then have a discussion live in the studio. They invited Gill and the boys to come too, and watch how the programme was made. This will be confirmed in the next few days.
Anyway, a nondescript evening with the only high point being Justin Rowlatt's one-hour outing recycling much of the Newsnight stuff he did travelling across America. Good to see it packaged up in one programme 'This World: Can Obama Save the Planet' (BBC2, 7pm). Sad not to see Joe Jenkins my composting toilet hero. I watched this whilst peeling pumpkin seeds... I have rather a lot to do!
Later on, more fruit drying and washing up... pretty standard stuff in this house!
Showing posts with label floods. Show all posts
Showing posts with label floods. Show all posts
I got up in time to get to Pauline's for 10am. But whilst I was eating my breakfast I was watching the news, about the 'freak' rain and devastating floods in Keswick and Cockermouth in the North West of the UK, I heard someone say that this was a 'one in a thousand year event'. The floods which affected the same region in 2005 were apparently a 'one in a hundred year event'. So I changed my facebook status to:
2005 'one in a hundred year event'
2009 'one in a thousand year event'
c'mon folks, when are we going to understand that something is going on?
I just hope some good comes from this horrible time, with houses and property trashed, four bridges swept away, at least one life lost. If it takes a tragedy to get people to realise that we have to change our ways, or suffer much much more of this kind of thing, then it is worth it. But we have a long way to go before we can reduce our CO2 levels back down to 350 parts per million, which scientists suggest is a 'safe' level which will only increase our average global temperature by about two degrees Celcius. However, the level of CO2 today is 385 ppm, up a third since pre-industrial revolution levels of about 280 ppm. The current level of CO2 will give us an increase in temperature of possibly 4 degrees, and as the levels of CO2 are still rising, we might expect an increase of 6 degrees, which would probably give us runaway climate change due to amplifying feedback loops. This CO2 count isn't the only greenhouse gas which is increasing. Methane is probably the best known 'other greenhouse gas' but there are quite a few others, see green living tips for a good simple overview, and Micheal Bloch's other website carbonify has lots of information too.
Anyway, I cycled round to Paulines to help her remove her exuberant potato vine tree, as requested. Her delightful 4 year old great grandchild was there, and she helped in a cute way. As per usual with Pauline, I was rewarded for the work by a good 'real' coffee and soya milk plus chat. I regard Pauline as one of the 'wise women' in my life as she often gives me sound and sensible advice.
I came home via Country Fresh and Freshways and had lunch. As it then started to pour with rain here I did a wash up, and went outside once it had cleared up a bit. I split the logs I collected yesterday and then, as I wanted to stack these, I needed to move the bricks that the chimney removers had left where my logpiles normally are. There were about 60 whole bricks, most of them with mortar still attached. If we're going to reuse these bricks, they have to be mortar free, so I found a hammer and did about 45 bricks in an hour and a quarter. Four of them broke but these might still be useful as hardcore in the wall/fence build foundations. But, as my concentration perhaps wandered towards the end, I hit my thumb nailbed with the hammer, and although it broke the skin, it wasn't painful at first. But a couple of hours later, the pressure under my thumbnail was very painful. I think the nail might come off.
But a happy family evening with good food (yummy fruit salad!) and telly watching together.
Started a game of Scrabble with both my lads... both of whom look like they're going to be good players. I was pleased with how well they did. We didn't finish the game though, but left it on the table to finish tomorrow.
Later, had a lovely long phone chat with a friend whom I've met through facebook, not in 'real life', and it was good to do this. We may never meet but that doesn't mean the friendship is any less enjoyable.
2005 'one in a hundred year event'
2009 'one in a thousand year event'
c'mon folks, when are we going to understand that something is going on?
I just hope some good comes from this horrible time, with houses and property trashed, four bridges swept away, at least one life lost. If it takes a tragedy to get people to realise that we have to change our ways, or suffer much much more of this kind of thing, then it is worth it. But we have a long way to go before we can reduce our CO2 levels back down to 350 parts per million, which scientists suggest is a 'safe' level which will only increase our average global temperature by about two degrees Celcius. However, the level of CO2 today is 385 ppm, up a third since pre-industrial revolution levels of about 280 ppm. The current level of CO2 will give us an increase in temperature of possibly 4 degrees, and as the levels of CO2 are still rising, we might expect an increase of 6 degrees, which would probably give us runaway climate change due to amplifying feedback loops. This CO2 count isn't the only greenhouse gas which is increasing. Methane is probably the best known 'other greenhouse gas' but there are quite a few others, see green living tips for a good simple overview, and Micheal Bloch's other website carbonify has lots of information too.
Anyway, I cycled round to Paulines to help her remove her exuberant potato vine tree, as requested. Her delightful 4 year old great grandchild was there, and she helped in a cute way. As per usual with Pauline, I was rewarded for the work by a good 'real' coffee and soya milk plus chat. I regard Pauline as one of the 'wise women' in my life as she often gives me sound and sensible advice.
I came home via Country Fresh and Freshways and had lunch. As it then started to pour with rain here I did a wash up, and went outside once it had cleared up a bit. I split the logs I collected yesterday and then, as I wanted to stack these, I needed to move the bricks that the chimney removers had left where my logpiles normally are. There were about 60 whole bricks, most of them with mortar still attached. If we're going to reuse these bricks, they have to be mortar free, so I found a hammer and did about 45 bricks in an hour and a quarter. Four of them broke but these might still be useful as hardcore in the wall/fence build foundations. But, as my concentration perhaps wandered towards the end, I hit my thumb nailbed with the hammer, and although it broke the skin, it wasn't painful at first. But a couple of hours later, the pressure under my thumbnail was very painful. I think the nail might come off.
But a happy family evening with good food (yummy fruit salad!) and telly watching together.
Started a game of Scrabble with both my lads... both of whom look like they're going to be good players. I was pleased with how well they did. We didn't finish the game though, but left it on the table to finish tomorrow.
Later, had a lovely long phone chat with a friend whom I've met through facebook, not in 'real life', and it was good to do this. We may never meet but that doesn't mean the friendship is any less enjoyable.
Excellent day, although got off to a slower start than I would have liked.
Gill went to art and I did the washing up before cycling down to the station so I could go over to Sheffield to see Ali. I took some climbing bean seedlings, a squash and a yam, for her raised beds. The train was a bit late and then there was quite a wait at the tram stop, so didn't get to her until after midday. But hey, that's life!
Had a lovely afternoon with her and at 3 went to collect 'littleboo' from school and she was, as usual, ecstatic to see me... and then when home, helped me plant the beans and other things. Hope the cats don't dig them up with their pooing activities. I buried a load of cat poo under the squash plant as extra fertiliser!
Ali had received an invite to go and see Carol Ann Duffy, the new Poet Laureate, perform a reading, and this is one reason I'd come over, to help Ali get there. We had decided to go on the tram, but the rain started coming down quite heavily so we changed our transport options to her car.... which turned out to be a good thing, as if we had of gone by tram, we would have been completely stuck. The rain came down, hail, thunder and lightening, continual cloud burst for some length of time, resulting in flash-floods all over central Sheffield, tram lines closed and traffic jams everywhere. We spent an hour and a half getting to where we wanted to be... we had intended to go and eat first but this time was used up with the chaos caused by closed roads.
But we got to the church where Carol Ann Duffy was due to speak. She'd taken the train over from Manchester but the floods had prevented her from getting any further than Dore, where she got a bus into town. I loved the poems she read, well, most of them, and her humorous commentaries. She started with a selection of her poems from her book 'The World's Wife' including 'Mrs. Midas', 'Mrs. Tiresias', 'Mrs. Aesop', 'Mrs. Faust' and 'Anne Hathaway', which is I think n the GCSE syllabus. Then she did some more personal stuff, 'A Child Asleep' and a series from Rapture, 'Text', 'Tea', 'Row', 'Syntax' 'Art', 'The Love Poem', and finally 'Prayer' and Premonition, a new poem about her Mother who died a few years ago, and she's only just got to a stage in her life that she can write about her. (see this page for biographical information and a selection of poems read by the author..)
After this we went to a nearby 'stuff yer face for a tenner' and did just that, after which Ali took me to the station. Lots of cancelled and late trains. I eventually got one to Leeds, which got in at midnight, and waited for the 12.34 to York which got in at 1.15. Fortunately a nice young lady was happy to chat, and she, Ruth, told me about her cybernetics degree at Reading Uni, and about her laptop, and I told her about some of my writing and entertaining activities. It made the journey go quicker for both of us.
Home just before 2am, damp but full of buzzy thoughts. Quite a day!
Gill went to art and I did the washing up before cycling down to the station so I could go over to Sheffield to see Ali. I took some climbing bean seedlings, a squash and a yam, for her raised beds. The train was a bit late and then there was quite a wait at the tram stop, so didn't get to her until after midday. But hey, that's life!
Had a lovely afternoon with her and at 3 went to collect 'littleboo' from school and she was, as usual, ecstatic to see me... and then when home, helped me plant the beans and other things. Hope the cats don't dig them up with their pooing activities. I buried a load of cat poo under the squash plant as extra fertiliser!
Ali had received an invite to go and see Carol Ann Duffy, the new Poet Laureate, perform a reading, and this is one reason I'd come over, to help Ali get there. We had decided to go on the tram, but the rain started coming down quite heavily so we changed our transport options to her car.... which turned out to be a good thing, as if we had of gone by tram, we would have been completely stuck. The rain came down, hail, thunder and lightening, continual cloud burst for some length of time, resulting in flash-floods all over central Sheffield, tram lines closed and traffic jams everywhere. We spent an hour and a half getting to where we wanted to be... we had intended to go and eat first but this time was used up with the chaos caused by closed roads.
But we got to the church where Carol Ann Duffy was due to speak. She'd taken the train over from Manchester but the floods had prevented her from getting any further than Dore, where she got a bus into town. I loved the poems she read, well, most of them, and her humorous commentaries. She started with a selection of her poems from her book 'The World's Wife' including 'Mrs. Midas', 'Mrs. Tiresias', 'Mrs. Aesop', 'Mrs. Faust' and 'Anne Hathaway', which is I think n the GCSE syllabus. Then she did some more personal stuff, 'A Child Asleep' and a series from Rapture, 'Text', 'Tea', 'Row', 'Syntax' 'Art', 'The Love Poem', and finally 'Prayer' and Premonition, a new poem about her Mother who died a few years ago, and she's only just got to a stage in her life that she can write about her. (see this page for biographical information and a selection of poems read by the author..)
After this we went to a nearby 'stuff yer face for a tenner' and did just that, after which Ali took me to the station. Lots of cancelled and late trains. I eventually got one to Leeds, which got in at midnight, and waited for the 12.34 to York which got in at 1.15. Fortunately a nice young lady was happy to chat, and she, Ruth, told me about her cybernetics degree at Reading Uni, and about her laptop, and I told her about some of my writing and entertaining activities. It made the journey go quicker for both of us.
Home just before 2am, damp but full of buzzy thoughts. Quite a day!
