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Climate Change !

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johnfilmer:
I found the recent report about clouds interesting. It seems that a significant lowering of the sulphur content of maritime fuel, something like 3.5% down to 0.5% has meant that the clouds are more translucent, especially over busy sea routes like the Atlantic.

So now more sun penetrates all the way to the ocean surface, apparently helping to warm the sea.

Be careful what you wish for!

MartinR:
Stuart, a very sensible attitude, one not a million miles from me.  I would point out though that the Frost fairs on the Thames had other contributory causes.  Old London Bridge had a series of relatively small spans, the flow being further reduced by "starlings" or protective timberwork around the base of the piers.  The restriction of the flow could lead to a drop of as much as 6' between one side and the other.  Salt water carried up on the flood tide could not penetrate this barrier, so upstream of London Bridge was always fresh water.  Water in London is brackish rather than brine, but even so will freeze 2 or 3 °F lower than fresh.  Furthermore, in winter the seas are warmer than the land, and the tidal churn keeps the estuarine water slightly warmer than fresh water tributaries.  As mentioned above, the tidal churn ended at the bridge.  In summary: water above the bridge was colder and froze at a higher temperature than today's central London Thames.

stuartwaters:
I've seen more dragonflies this year. I even had one fly into the cab of my lorry in the week. It got shooed out with a piece of paper. I've driven through many swarms of flying ants this year on my travels around the south east of England. My wife and I were away in our caravan seeing the in-laws in Cambridge when a swarm of bees flew over.

As far as Climate Change is concerned, there's no doubt that it's happening. I am no Climate Change denier, but I do not think human activity is the sole cause. It may be contributing to it, but it is by no means the sole cause. Historically, the planet's climate goes in cycles. Those cycles also run in cycles, cycles within cycles within cycles. As a planet, Earth is heading into what is known as an Interglacial Period. That transition will not end for several tens of thousands of years. At the end of that transition, only Antarctica will be permanently frozen. The last Ice Age has not yet ended, it is still in the process of ending and is a long way from being over.

2,000 years ago, when the Romans came to Britain, the climate was warmer and sea levels were higher. About 400 years later, the climate was cooling and that cooling and the resulting climate changes, along with instability at the center of the Roman Empire led to it's partial collapse. Fast Forward 1,000 years and Britain was in the grip of the "Little Ice Age", when the River Thames at London Bridge would freeze hard enough to hold a fair on the frozen river. Fast forward another 400 years and we are where we are.

That stated, I personally am fully behind efforts to transition to clean power generation. We are in the third decade of the 21st Century and in this day and age with the technology available to us, there is no excuse for pumping billions of tons of pollution into the air every year.

castle261:
Thank you all for your input - remember the - `Knife Man ` - at Rochester Cathedral Garden`s
Well - I saw dozens of `Dragonflies`- all rising up from the grass - when I sat down - to view him.

johnfilmer:
Up here on the North Downs, in yesterday’s sunshine we had wasps, bees, butterflies and other flying things. Yet to see a dragonfly this year.

My wife got stung by an unidentified flying object a few days ago when doing some pruning, still red and angry (as is she!).

Lots of birds on our feeders. We have gone up from a 5kg bag of peanuts to 12.5kg in the hope of keeping up.

Lesser spotted woodpeckers are common on the peanuts, but this morning there was a green woodpecker on next door’s lawn, hunting ants? Unlikely to come on ours as our drake is a bit territorial, although he happily lets a cock pheasant scavenge for dropped birdseed. We call the pheasant Cedric.

We could hear the skylarks yesterday and the shrieks of the buzzards, but couldn’t see either.

The only climate issue recently has been that all the onions and leeks bolted. We let them flower, an absolute bee magnet, even after we cut them down when seed started to set. The last 30odd flower heads are stood through some old mesh and still the insects come. Also made useful cut flower addition for the house.

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