How we ended up paying farmers to flood our homes | George Monbiot
This government let the farming lobby to rip up the rulebook on soil protection – and now we are suffering the consequences• George Monbiot canoes across the UK floods – videoIt has the force of a parable. Along the road from High Ham to Burrowbridge, which skirts Lake Paterson (formerly known as the Somerset Levels), you can see field after field of harvested maize. In some places the crop lines run straight down the hill and into the water. When it rains, the water and soil flash off into the lake. Seldom are cause and effect so visible.That's what I saw on Tuesday. On Friday, I travelled to the source of the Thame...
Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - February 17, 2014 Category: Science Authors: George Monbiot Tags: Farming Flooding Owen Paterson Agriculture David Cameron Environment Agency World news Labour Politics Conservatives Natural disasters and extreme weather UK news The Guardian Comment Comment is free Source Type: news
George Monbiot canoes across the UK floods – video
The environmentalist floats across the flood plains in Hurley, Berkshire, one of the villages worst hit by the floodsGuy GrandjeanGeorge Monbiot (Source: Guardian Unlimited Science)
Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - February 17, 2014 Category: Science Authors: Guy Grandjean, George Monbiot Tags: Comment David Cameron theguardian.com Farming Flooding Natural disasters and extreme weather Owen Paterson Politics UK news Environment Agency Agriculture Comment is free Source Type: news
Flood defences: George Osborne tackled yesterday's crisis at the cost of today's | Chris Huhne
The chancellor's flood defence cuts were driven by deficit reduction. But we can't continue learning by drowningThere is no excuse. In 2010 the coalition slashed spending on flood defences when it should have gone up. Even last year's increase in flood defence spending was under duress. The insurers, some of the most enlightened big businesses on this issue, have repeatedly warned about the rising claims and losses from climate change-induced extreme weather.A confidential deal struck last June, ahead of the spending review, increased flood defence spending as a payback for the insurance companies continuing to provide cov...
Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - February 16, 2014 Category: Science Authors: Chris Huhne Tags: Comment The Guardian George Osborne Flooding Society Public sector cuts Climate change Politics UK news Conservatives Environment Science Comment is free Source Type: news
The government has to act now on climate change | John Gummer
Floods and extreme weather will become more intense, so Britain needs a long-term plan. The time for buck-passing is overThe harrowing pictures of flood victims, ruined property and stranded stock have brought home the damage the forces of nature can wreak even in our gentle and temperate climate. We must expect this extreme weather to become more frequent, made worse by the warming of the atmosphere. The UK's floods, Australia's record heat, the intense cold in the US, and the unparalleled force of Asian storms remind us that the real issue is intensity. We have to prepare, not just for too much water, but too little; not...
Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - February 14, 2014 Category: Science Authors: John Gummer Tags: Comment The Guardian Flooding Nicholas Stern Climate change UK news Environment Agency Comment is free Source Type: news
UK floods making climate sceptics hot under the collar | Bob Ward
Bid by Lord Lawson to question the link between global warming and extreme weather is undermined by irrefutable evidenceThe UK floods are not just causing misery for thousands of people around the country whose lives and livelihoods have been disrupted. They are also making a few climate change sceptics hot beneath the collar.No doubt they are finding it an uncomfortable experience to realise that their misleading attempts to inform the public into believing that climate change poses no threat to the UK are now being undermined by the irrefutable evidence provided by the record rainfall and storm surges.First, Peter Lilley...
Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - February 14, 2014 Category: Science Authors: Bob Ward Tags: Comment theguardian.com Peter Lilley Flooding Natural disasters and extreme weather Climate change Politics UK news Met Office Environment Agency Climate change scepticism Conservatives Science Source Type: news
Climate change means we won't in future be able to engineer our way out of flooding | Hannah Cloke
The Environment Agency could spend its entire budget on flood prevention and Somerset would still be submerged. 'Soft' engineering – using nature – is cheaper and more effectiveThe Environment Agency is battling not only flood water, but a rising tide of criticism. A rural crisis has turned into a political bunfight in which scientific fact plays second fiddle to political expediency.Even some Conservative ministers might think it a bit harsh, and poor spelling, to describe Chris Smith, the Environment Agency's embattled chairman, as a Cnut. But like the 11th century Danish king of England, Lord Smith has shown sound j...
Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - February 11, 2014 Category: Science Authors: Hannah Cloke Tags: Comment theguardian.com Flooding World news Engineering Technology Natural disasters and extreme weather Climate change UK news Environment Agency Science Comment is free Source Type: news
Nuclear weapons research body gives £8m a year to British universities
A report due out on Wednesday exposes the extent of links between the Atomic Weapons Establishment and universitiesBritain's secretive nuclear weapons research organisation gives over £8m a year in research funding to more than 50 universities, according to documents released under the Freedom of Information Act.The Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE), a private consortium that runs nuclear plants at Aldermaston and Burghfield in Berkshire for the Ministry of Defence (MoD), puts most of the money into five of the UK's leading universities with which it has formed "strategic alliances".They are Imperial College in London an...
Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - February 11, 2014 Category: Science Authors: Rob Edwards Tags: theguardian.com Controversies World news Higher education UK news Weapons technology Nuclear weapons University funding Science Source Type: news
January was England's wettest winter month in almost 250 years
Last month's seasonal total was higher than any since 1767 and three times the average levelThe deluge that has engulfed southern and central England in recent weeks is the worst winter downpour in almost 250 years, according to figures from the world's longest-running weather station.The rainfall measured at the historic Radcliffe Meteorological Station at Oxford University in January was greater than for any winter month since daily recording began there in 1767, and three times the average amount.The latest Met Office data shows that the region from Devon to Kent and up into the Midlands suffered its wettest January si...
Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - February 1, 2014 Category: Science Authors: Damian Carrington Tags: Flooding News Climate change UK news Weather The Observer Environment Science Source Type: news
Dog disease outbreak prompts call to vets to send tissue samples for tests
Unidentified disease similar to Alabama rot has killed 13 animals across Britain in recent monthsInvestigators are calling on vets to take tissue samples from dogs that die from a mysterious disease that has killed 13 animals across Britain in recent months.The unidentified disease causes small skin ulcers to form on the dogs' legs, and within a week progresses to kidney failure which has been fatal in all but three confirmed cases.The disease is similar to another illness called Alabama rot, which was first spotted in greyhounds in the US in the 1980s. That disease is thought to have been caused by a toxin produced by E c...
Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - January 23, 2014 Category: Science Authors: Ian Sample Tags: theguardian.com News Animals UK news Life and style Pets Dogs Science Source Type: news
Weather watching: when will the message get through?
Research into public risk protection can only do so much, says David Uzzell – people will always be mesmerised by disasterAs an undergraduate living in a rundown part of Liverpool in the 1970s, I witnessed a fire in an abandoned workshop which my flat overlooked. I stood transfixed. Even at the time I remember thinking about my actions, or rather inactions. I was mesmerised by this elemental force. In a grey, rundown and defeated urban landscape, it was colourful, full of energy and spirit; it seemed to be an invincible force, a symbol of resistance.Several years later I was driving through a village in Cornwall and pass...
Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - January 15, 2014 Category: Science Tags: Psychology Blogposts Guardian Professional World news Academics Research Higher education Natural disasters and extreme weather Climate change Higher Education Network Environment Science Source Type: news
Drowning in money: the untold story of the crazy public spending that makes flooding inevitable | George Monbiot
Every year billions are spent in Britain and Europe on policies that wreck homes and lives through floodingWe all know what's gone wrong, or we think we do: not enough spending on flood defences. It's true that the government's cuts have exposed thousands of homes to greater risk, and that the cuts will become more dangerous as climate change kicks in. But too little public spending is a small part of the problem. It is dwarfed by another factor, which has been overlooked in discussions in the media and statements by the government: too much public spending.Vast amounts of public money, running into billions, are spent eve...
Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - January 13, 2014 Category: Science Authors: George Monbiot Tags: Comment The Guardian Flooding Climate change UK news Weather Environment Agriculture Science Comment is free Source Type: news
Storm chasing in the UK: Britain's wild weather enthusiasts
As fierce weather batters the UK, a growing number of storm hunters are taking to their cars to chase the wildest conditions. Why? To pit their wits against mother natureAs soon as he was old enough to ride a bike and get it up a hill, David Vicary began watching the weather, waiting for dramatic thunder and lightning, then going out to watch it – "chasing" storms. "As a kid I would look out at the clouds and want to know what was going on," he says. "And later, when I got a car, that opened up the whole world. The other week when storms rolled through London I got up on the roof to watch it. It's addictive."Vicary, 27, ...
Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - January 10, 2014 Category: Science Authors: Emine Saner Tags: The Guardian Hobbies World news Natural disasters and extreme weather Features Life and style Tornadoes Hurricanes Science Source Type: news
Flooding: advice to the public
A new leaflet, flooding: advice for the public, is now available. It was produced by Public Health England in collaboration with the Environment Agency (England) to help those at risk of flooding. (Source: NHS Networks)
Source: NHS Networks - December 27, 2013 Category: UK Health Authors: Maria Axford Source Type: news
