Last year Europe experienced its most extreme year ever for unusual weather events. Record heat and precipitation were recorded across the continent, with extremely cold weather during the winter, and heat and drought through spring and summer.
I’m sure it hasn’t gone unnoticed that 2019 has also been rather warm lately. Earlier this year the UK experienced unusually warm weather during the first few months — with record-breaking temperatures that hadn’t been seen in the last 122 years. We have also had the hottest February in UK’s history, with the highest average daily maximum temperature at 18.3 °C.
Then only a few weeks ago the highest temperature ever recorded in the UK – 38.7C – was confirmed by the Met Office, with July thought to have set the record for the hottest month ever recorded. Another startling fact is that 9 of the 10 hottest years on Earth have occurred since 2000. All this combined evidence makes it unequivocally clear that global warming is already affecting people’s lives and is not only a future problem.
The clever people at GreenMatch.co.uk have put together a very intuitive interactive-graphic which helps demonstrate how different countries in Europe are being affected by the climate crisis. Taking into account
surface temperatures, sea temperatures, sea levels, and precipitation each country has been scored from 1-100 on how severely it has been negatively impacted by the changing climate.
Whilst this a nice way of looking at the data, ultimately it is just another way to illustrate that the climate is only getting hotter and not colder. There is no denial in the fact that we are see environmental problems all around the world and problems of this magnitude need a universal policy on sustainability and renewable energy.
Closer to home we can all do our bit to contribute, starting with small, everyday actions — such as recycling and lowering your consumption — changing your domestic energy source to a renewable supplier can also make a huge difference.
In the coming months we will be trialling a beta version of our ‘ZIA’ app. This will provide lots of easy tips and useful advice on how to live a more sustainable lifestyle. If you’re interested in being part of the team, please contact us and show your support.