An article in 'The Guardian' from February 2021. Part of my 'catch-up' blogging of long-term draft posts.
Sir James Bevan of the Environment Agency explored the changes that we are seeing in the pattern of weather and suggests that they are heading towards a "worst case scenario".
This came several months before the launch earlier this week of the latest IPCC report, and ahead of the COP26 meeting at the end of the year.
“Much more extreme weather will kill more people through drought, flooding, wildfires and heatwaves than most wars have. The net effects will collapse ecosystems, slash crop yields, take out the infrastructure that our civilisation depends on, and destroy the basis of the modern economy and modern society. If [this] sounds like science fiction let me tell you something you need to know. This is that over the last few years the reasonable worst case for several of the flood incidents the EA has responded to has actually happened, and it’s getting larger. That is why our thinking needs to change faster than the climate. And why our response needs to match the scale of the challenge.”
Sir James Bevan was speaking to the British Association of Insurers.
As I have previously blogged, the reports published by insurance companies are particularly helpful for Geographers, including those from Munich Re.
Image: Alan Parkinson, shared under CC license
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