I just read this gem from Infinisha. I thought it was a great blog, and the video is fantastic. But what is it saying? Is it saying that the globe isn’t really warming, or that it is warming but we shouldn’t worry? I don’t know. What I do know in my tiny bit of Europe, is that Britain’s temperate climate went nuts in the late nineties.
Winter 97 was mild, and winters have been mild since. All the ski groups that were running in the Pennines around Glossop have long since folded. One I knew had clubbed together to buy a tiny portable ski lift. It’s not been used for many years, and no one can remember where it is or what it is. The Pennine towns, Glossop, Buxton, and Hayfield used to have volunteer rescue services that pulled people from snowed in cars every year. No one can remember that any more.
How climate change affected peoples’ perception came home to me in 2000 when some South Africans I knew said they planned to drive from Slough to Edinburgh Scotland one Christmas.
“Are you sure?” I said. “Scotland snows up every Christmas, and it’s very dangerous. People die. Take a shovel, warm clothes.”
They looked at me as though I was nuts. They’d been in Britain since 96, and had no idea about a British winter before 96.
The Scottish Christmas white out used to be a regular story played up out of all proportion in the media. People from the south, unused to Scottish winters, would go to Scotland for a white Christmas and they’d get more than they bargained for. Often people died in snowdrifts in scores. Not any more. Those stories are ancient history. If we did return to those winters, we’d have a huge snarl up because no one can remember what it was like.
But the South Africans assumed Britain was mild. Of course, they were right. Britain is now, seven years on, irreversably mild, and it’s no wonder. I live next to a minor road that runs through a housing estate. It’s the third choice of road for drivers trying to get through town when the A350 is too slow. Year on year, I notice traffic increasing on this road. I can see it, hear it , and smell the rise in traffic, and it’s directly proportional to the year-on-year rise in temperatures. It doesn’t take a scientist to work out. That’s what’s happening.
So I’m saying don’t just watch your TV, feel it for yourself. You can do it. Go out there. Don’t let the so-called experts say what is or what isn’t happening. You can actually see it happening for yourself. But, hey! What do I know?
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Cy Forrest 