Commenting on the publication of the first Land Use Framework for England, @tommlancaster.bsky.social, @eciu.net said:
“Climate change is already reshaping food and farming in England, as well as much of our landscape."
eciu.net/media/press...
Great to be on Radio 4's Farming Today early this morning to talk about the Land Use Framework: www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/... (from 10:30m in).
It's only a first step, but signficant land use change for nature and climate can have big upsides, including for upland communities.
There are some TRULY idiotic "I hate net-zero" takes on yday's OBR report, which set out long-term risks to govt finances
It's right there in the report, but to repeat, OBR makes it crystal clear that climate action will be far less costly than inaction
www.carbonbrief.org/...
☀️It’s been an exceptionally sunny & dry spring – what role is climate change playing?
Dr Clair Barnes, an Imperial College climate scientist, explains the shifts in spring weather.
And Colin Chappell, a farmer, lays out how these changes are impacting UK agriculture.
Yesterday, Ross Clark claimed in the @thespectator1828.bsky.social
"The likely fall in the energy price cap will be purely a reaction to lower wholesale prices on international markets... it is simply markets at work"
Is this the same Ross Clark who blames "net zero" every time bills go up? 🧵😂
These are foods mentioned in this article, but many more everyday food items from broccoli 🥦 to bananas 🍌 are becoming more costly. Extreme weather conditions in the UK and globally are threatening food production and causing price spikes. This is a crucial part of the story!
3️⃣: 🥔
Potatoes can be grown in the UK, provided we have suitable growing conditions. Relentless wet weather in 2023 (made worse by climate change) delayed harvesting, caused crops to rot and led to a shortage before Christmas. Prices have since shot up.
www.theguardian.com/food/2023/de...
2️⃣: ☕
Coffee is also in the midst of a spike in price. This has been exacerbated by extreme temperatures and erratic rainfall in producer countries like Brazil 🇧🇷 and Vietnam 🇻🇳
www.thegrocer.co.uk/kvi-price-tr...
1️⃣: 🍫
Ivory Coast 🇨🇮 is the UK's top supplier of cocoa, totalling 84% of our imports. It's been pummelled by climate impacts recently - extreme rainfall in 2023, drought in early 2024 & a humid heatwave shortly after, all made worse by climate change.
eciu.net/analysis/rep...
Interesting @theipaper.com story highlighting claims by the Food & Drink Federation that higher NI contributions and new food packaging levies are increasing prices.
But here's something they don't mention... what about climate change? 🧵 inews.co.uk/news/politic...
The deal apparently includes 13,000 tonnes in tariff free beef access to the US for UK farmers, and 13,000 tonnes in tariff free beef access to the UK for US farmers.
No one's standards change.
By way of context the tariff free quota Australian beef gets into the US is 448,214 tonnes per annum.
A sound long gone from British villages & gardens - a singing Wryneck. There’s Pied Flycatchers, Redstarts, Hawfinches, Tree Sparrows and Swallows around this garden too. It’s like going back in time, challenging the shifting baseline and reminding how much birds have declined in Britain.
Maps from here
www.metoffice.gov.uk/research/cli...
And the Sep one from here (it was off the standard scale…)
www.metoffice.gov.uk/about-us/new...
This is what farming with climate change looks like
After the second worst harvest on record in 2024, farmers in England have had record breaking rain in September, followed very little rain and record breaking sun & heat in March & April
Good for berries I guess, less good for lots of others!
FACTCHECK: Almost all the headlines on Tony Blair / net-zero are *wildly* inaccurate
REALITY:
1️⃣Net-zero is *only way* to stop warming
2️⃣Blair calls for tech to "turbocharge our path to net-zero"
3️⃣He categorically *does not* say "net-zero is doomed to fail"
🧵
1/6
Thousands more people could die from overheating each year if Britain does not adapt to a warming world to avert
“tomorrow’s disasters”, the UK government’s climate advisers have warned.
@thecccuk.bsky.social says no sign Labour are taking climate adaptation more seriously than Tories
NEW: Who are the voters Labour risks losing to Reform?
How might Lab unite them with the rest of its election winning coalition? How might Reform win them over?
Some big new research out today with @persuasionuk.bsky.social as featured by @greenmirandahere.bsky.social in today's FT 🧵👇
A considerable amount of the Northern hemisphere's landmass has already warmed more than 2C since the industrial era. The cold blob in the North Atlantic is a telltale sign of a weakening AMOC current.
Visual by @edhawkins.org
Great thread this
If I was Prime Minister for the day and wanted people to feel a material improvement to their day-to-day, I’d throw what money I had at local government
And not just at pot holes, but at stuff like the services that get drinkers and addicts off the streets
ICYM
Solar panel push still won’t cover as much land as golf courses, even if the UK government's 2030 solar power goals are met
www.thetimes.com/uk/environme...
This is an, ahem, interesting piece from Jawad Iqbal in today's Times: "Miliband has in the past boasted about the previous Labour government’s decision to phase out coal power… Miliband claimed other countries would follow “our example”. Really? It seems highly unlikely."
Here’s why he's wrong 🧵
Very important point. It's not green energy that is making UK electricity expensive: it's mostly gas
I've just caught up with Nick Robinson's interview with James Murray MP on #r4today. 1) Green energy isn't driving energy prices up. As Murray said, our high energy costs are down to reliance on foreign gas. We need *more* home grown renewables! Robinson seems keen to reopen UK coalmines... 1/
🚨Some major errors & misleading claims from experienced presenter Nick Robinson on BBC Radio 4 Today, when discussing British Steel with Treasury Minister James Murray
I hope these are corrected on tomorrow's programme, and Robinson sticks to the facts in future.
Here's what he got wrong... 🧵
This is really important for everyone to be aware when out & about in the British countryside. 15 years ago I rarely had ticks on me during fieldwork. Nowadays I have several every time I'm in the same woods. Ticks can & do cause life-changing health problems.
Would be sad if these went. Only been to Romania once but these haystacks across the landscape were one of the things that made the place special & different
As this story points out, they're also important habitats for fauna and flora
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
29 years of natural colonisation, woodland expansion. Oaks, hawthorns, blackthorns. This 2 ha of new woodland, all self-sown creates new habitat and future ancient woodland, but also buffers the existing woodland next door from drying winds and agri-spray drift. Win, win, win.
The foods in danger of disappearing from UK supermarket shelves within 10 years
A weekly shop without coffee, chocolate or a joint of meat may seem unthinkable but consumer experts predict our changing climate could remove key products from supermarkets within a decade.
What's remarkable about Nick Robinson's discussion with Rishi Sunak about net zero is not just Sunak's lack of knowledge but that Robinson doesn't ask at all about climate change: do you know anything about it? What would you do about it?
www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...
But I thought nobody wants heat pumps? And they dOn'T wOrK iN tHe CoLd?
Looks like misinfo isn't slowing growth in UK heat pumps
Good, bc we can't have energy security with the status quo (gas boilers)
& we can't have national security without energy security
Heat pumps = national security
