Coastwise members have a keen interest in their environment and surroundings, particularly as it affects marine life and the coastal fringes.
Doug Eltham, Principal Environmental Policy Officer at Devon County Council was therefore a very welcome visitor when he came to talk about climate change and how it might affect us in Devon. Doug is able to keep up to date with the developing science and interpret it into usable facts to develop practical policies for public and local government action. Members were fascinated to see some climate change comparisons such as the annual emissions of one cow are equivalent to one aircraft flight to Hong Kong or one car covering 10,000 miles.
One of the more compelling pieces of evidence lies in the ancient air recovered from deep ice coring in the Antarctic, which after chemical analysis give us comparisons over a period of c. 800,000 years. This shows stability over the vast majority of this period – "stability" meaning periodic variation between c.150 and 280 ppm CO2, coinciding with glaciations – with a sudden up-kick to c. 400ppm in the last 100 years as human industrialisation arrived. Purely circumstantial ? No; according to the United Nations it is extremely likely that humans are the dominant cause. In tandem with that, and coming closer to home, the Newlyn tide datum has seen a 200mm rise since 1916, although this is a combination of icecap melting, thermal expansion of the oceans and isostasy, as the British Isles continue their rebound from the last glaciation.
What does it mean for us ? Probably drier springs and autumns, but an increased intensity of summer rainfall and extreme weather events. We all saw the effects of winter storms in the SW , and it seems certain that policy-makers and implementers will need to continue factoring this into national and local infrastructure planning. The images of shattered railways (GWR Dawlish) and beaches cast up onto roads (Slapton) make a powerful argument for changing our way of life.
[Image of Slapton courtesy of David Whiteway]