Climate change impacts

Now we have come to learn of the outcomes of the Copenhagen climate change talks, it seems an awful lot less was achieved than was hoped for, or indeed necessary. Of course it was always going to be incredibly difficult to get 192 countries to agree to the same bit of paperwork, but the lack of political will and flexibility has resulted in a very watered down document that is not nearly good enough for the current predicament the human race is in.

Meanwhile, carbon emissions continue to rise, warming of the planet continues and its impacts are becoming evident everywhere. Recently the Met Office and UK Government produced a very useful map detailing global impacts of a changing climate if average temperatures rose by 4C.

It's very good to understand the impacts visually, and remind ourselves of the very serious situation that runaway climate change could bring about.

The Transition Scilly website has some free downloads to help you understand climate change better and do something by reducing your carbon footprint.

Population: the taboo subject

Human population levels are the one big environmental and social problem that are not given the degree of thought and coverage that they should be.

In this BBC Horizon program, David Attenborough presents a highly thought-provoking documentary about past, current and future population levels, and their impact on the world's resources.

It's available on the iPlayer until Dec 18th and is really worth watching:
http://bbc.co.uk/i/pdjmk/

The Wave

On Saturday 5th December thousands of people are expected to come together in central London to make a show of support for the UK Government to make every effort to secure a deal at the forthcoming climate change talks in Copenhagen.

This is a critical time in human history where the leaders from every nation in the world have a chance to come to an agreement that may just avert runaway climate change.

To show our support here on the Islands, Transition Scilly have organised an event running parallel to the London event. It will be on Saturday 5th December and start at 15.00 on Porthmellon beach, St Mary's (weather permitting). The only stipulation is that you wear something blue!