Global warming

What bothers you and why?

I have lots of problems but the one that  worries me the most is global warming. This is essentially the biggest threat to humanity I can think of. We should respect the world and it’s environment.

Carbon dioxide levels are higher now than in the past. It means that global heat is held in by a greenhouse effect. Europe, America and China are suffering extremes of heat and wildfires that can be seen from space continue in Canada and in Sardinia. Children at a holiday camp near Athens in Greece were evacuated because of wild fires nearing their camp.

Friends and relatives are my concern to some extent. I have no way of protecting them or their children. But it’s the rest of the population that are at risk. Water shortages, food shortages, lack of health care, damage to crops, drought, all have an impact. And it’s not just humans. Animals are increasingly endangered as we take over their land to grow crops or fell the trees they live in. We grab land like it’s infinite. We have to work together as societies to reduce emissions.

But even as some governments try to persuade us to be more careful with the planet, others are are being lobbied by Industrial bosses to just carry on with old technology and fuels, they are more interested in profit than saving the planet.

I can remember fears about population explosions and pollution back in the 1970’s. This has been happening insidiously for decades. We have to realise that our responsibility is not just for ourselves but for generations to come if we want them to have a decent future. Perhaps the idea of constant growth needs to end and we should work towards sustainable development goals.

No rain for a month

At Etruria festival yesterday, bring your own cloud!

See cloud man fly

As he floats by..

Oh my word! It’s been so dry,

There’s been no rain, I wonder why?

The clouds do roll across the sky

But squeeze them, they stay dry.

Most of May it wasn’t wet

Or if it was then I forget…

From sun-up to sunset!

High pressure domed

Across us roamed

Mild dry air

No rain to spare.

Just high uv

Sunburn you see

So let it rain

And rain again!

Drought?

It might rain today, but most of England is parched. The south east, south midlands, and eastern counties look dry and brown from satellite images. We are in the same heatwave that has affected the rest of western Europe. Forecasts say the weather is due to break soon. But with thundery showers due there is not the persistent rain for many days that would replenish the ground water and because the soil is so hard and dry it is compacted and heavy rain could cause flash flooding…. Oh well, Brits always discuss the weather!

Old watercolour

I miss rainclouds, full of dark grey promise. We’ve had a few weeks of dry weather and apart from a few spots of rain this morning we’ve had nothing. With that and the cold, frosty mornings, it’s taking a while for the plants to grow. We have a few seedlings, but when I went to a garden nursery they had hardly any perennial plants ready for growing on. I for one am hoping for rain soon.

Rain

sketch-1595672683018

It’s been threatening rain all morning. It was raining earlier, the abandoned cat we look after appeared bedraggled at the back door so he came in for a pouch of cat food before going off again. He’s definitely an outside cat.

We were expecting rain all day. My hubby was going for a walk but that has been cancelled. So he’s in the shed making cozy places for the hedgehogs and the cat to sleep in.

Rain. One year, many years ago, we were suffering weeks of rain. I told someone that an ark was being built on the top of the hill. They believed me! This country (UK) has so many influences from the North, South, East and West that we can sometimes get all types of weather in one day. The rain is one thing, but we sometimes even get (very small) tornados. Also hail storms, water spouts, gale, storm and hurricane force winds. High temperatures (rarely) but highest last year it was 38°C. Low temperatures, probably worst in Scotland around minus 20°C.

So yes, rain, some of the UK is very wet, certain villages like Seathwaite in the Lake District get some of the highest rainfall. Some of it is extremely dry. The South East of England around London frequently gets less water from rain than it requires so water companies are allowed to extract water for public use from rivers and aquafers.

On the whole I like rain. Except for late one night when we came out of a club and missed the last bus home. We had a five mile walk in the heavy rain. The water ran down my ‘showerproof’ coat. My trousers got soaked, and then the rain started getting in through the coat seams. Oh joy! Even my shoes were sodden… Memories.

X

Thirst

sketch-1555108539530

I need a drink

Cola

No

Cocoa

No

Coffee

No

Gin

No

Beer

No

Cider

No

Milk

No

Whiskey

No

Tea

No

Orange Juice

No

Water

Yes

Cold

Yes

With ice

Yes

Sparkling

Yes

Tap water

YES.

why spend money on water if you can get it out of the tap?  We are very lucky in my country to be able to have freshly piped water. In a lot of the World this does not happen.

But we still buy water in bottles! And when we have bought our bottles water the plastic bottle it usually comes in gets thrown away and Sent to landfill or ends up floating in the ocean and destroying the sea life. Meanwhile many people in the world have to drink filthy water and maybe carry it for miles before they can drink or use it. Maybe we should care more about people who are really thirsty. My choice of drinks is almost unlimited. The world must try and be fairer.

Save the world, drink tap water if you can!