Engaging with climate change after the UK floods

Extreme weather events are critical opportunities for joining the dots between climate impacts and people's lives, but it's easier to mobilise around other targetsThe Cambrian News, a local newspaper covering mid and west Wales, recently reported that Gwynedd Council was seeking to implement a "managed retreat" (ie, an evacuation) from the tiny town of Fairbourne.Four hundred people – about half the population of the picturesque coastal settlement – attended a town hall meeting where the council made the case that Fairbourne could not be saved from rising sea levels (at least, not in an economically feasible way).Sea-level rise is one of the key climate changes that the UK faces. But if climate change was mentioned at the town hall meeting, the Cambrian News did not report it. And this flood-related "climate silence" is a story that played out across the UK during the wettest January on record. Analyses by Carbon Brief showed that although thousands of newspaper articles were published about the UK floods, up until 6 February, only 7% mentioned the subject.The situation changed a little when the Thames finally burst its banks. Climate change reared its head as a national security threat, briefly puncturing the blanket of disinterest which usually smothers public debate. And then, just like that, it was gone again. Our fickle attentions have quickly refocused elsewhere, and the political discourse has already moved on.As a recent report by the RSA vividly showed, climate s...
Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - Category: Science Authors: Tags: Comment Guardian Professional Flooding Communication Climate change Sustainability Guardian sustainable business Sustainable living Source Type: news