I thought the government’s plan to protect Britain from extreme heat would be bad. It’s worse than that

[AE-NMidlands]

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfr ... ty-economy

I thought the government’s plan to protect Britain from extreme heat would be bad. It’s worse than that

Politicians seem to have no idea of the action required if we want to keep a functioning society and economy
Bill McGuire, professor emeritus of geophysical and climate hazards at UCL

It’s hard not to wonder if the government is living on another planet. One that isn’t in the grip of the highest temperatures ever recorded, where tens of thousands of people are not dying every summer in blistering heatwaves, where the oceans aren’t boiling. This is the only explanation for the colossally inadequate national climate adaptation programme released this week.

There is so much wrong with it that it’s hard to know where to begin...

Quite. And not just on heat either!

[renewablejohn]

Unfortunately its far worse than this as the government is actively under the new farming subsidy schemes (SFI etc) actively encouraging farmers to give up growing food in this country and instead plant bird seed so the little dickie birds have food for the winter while the humans starve. There totally cluelees in not realising that the majority of the seed will not make it through the winter as there will be an explosion in the rat and mice population as shown by evidence in other parts of the world. The other problem with this rewilding through the back door policy is that once the farmer plants the seed its a shut the gate policy with no grazing of livestock or hay making just dead grass in the middle of summer waiting for it to catch fire. We had the example last year just outside London where grass fires on rewilded land could not be controlled by the fire brigade and a small hamlet totally destroyed. With these wacky government farming policies it will only get worse.

[Bugtownboy]

We had the example last year just outside London where grass fires on rewilded land could not be controlled by the fire brigade and a small hamlet totally destroyed. With these wacky government farming policies it will only get worse.

Do you mean the fire in Wennington that started in a garden compost heap, spread to a fence then buildings ?

[nowty]

We had the example last year just outside London where grass fires on rewilded land could not be controlled by the fire brigade and a small hamlet totally destroyed. With these wacky government farming policies it will only get worse.

Do you mean the fire in Wennington that started in a garden compost heap, spread to a fence then buildings ?

The final report concluded it probably started in a garden but the actual cause is unknown.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-66148110

[renewablejohn]

I cannot understand people on here. The comment I made was about the stupid rewilding policy of leaving dead grass everywhere with summers getting hotter and the risks of wild fires increases. The response more concerned about how the fire started rather than if the land had actually been grazed by animals there would not of been the fuel load available to cause the devastation in the first place. How the fire started is totally irrelevant even if it was not a human fault then nature is quite capable of starting its own fires by lightening strikes. As it happens the fire brigade could not identify the cause which really is only relevant if arson is suspected.

[Joeboy]

We had wildfires a couple of years ago in Turkey. It was absolutely horrendous. The lads from the village were up fighting in flip-flops for days to stop it taking hold in the village.. Proper heroic stuff, people evacuated by boat, this fire was not fucking around, it tried to get in a few times and was within 3 mtrs of one of my mates houses.

In the wash up meeting it was observed that govt policy to not cut back trees from village edge and not maintain firebreaks properly contributed massively to the spread.

Post fire we generated a firefighting fund. Pumps, hoses, generators, ppe, strategic placed water butt's across the mountain, stirrup pumps etc.

The start of those fires was a couple of wee boys burning a book over in Marmaris. Essentially being wee fannies, which is their remit as wee boys. The escalation was due to climate change and bad govt policy in the wrong direction for vague intentions. In the end people lost their lives, I'm all for nature but not at the cost of burning my village (s).

My real point is that it's better to get up and do something rather than waiting for some 'other" to do it. They won't. We were lucky, SWMBO & I were chilling in Malia while the mayhem happened, I sent money and advice but I felt terrible for not being there.

[renewablejohn]

Joeboy--You have my complete sympathy and I completely understand having been smoked out in the last really hot dry summer by both Woodland Trust and RSPB mismangement of their land producing an excessive fuel load leading to massive wildfires. They really could not care less as it was a fantastic marketing opportunity to go back to the public to replant yet again all the trees the public had already funded 5 years earlier. The fact that lives and property where are risk due to their negligence was beyond their comprehension.