Climate’s time bomb threat to way of life

From the The Argus, first published Thursday 9th Nov 2006.

Extreme weather could transform Brighton and Hove into a version of the Riviera as climate change ravages the city.

Longer, hotter summers and short, extreme winters could radically alter the way we live, work, travel and spend our spare time.

The baking sunshine could bring a new kind of tourist to the city. But while industry leaders say the changes will be a major boost for the economy, environmental experts warn life as we know it is under threat as never before.

Rising temperatures could leave wildlife species struggling to survive, traditional landscapes transformed, parts of the coast swallowed by rising tides and city beaches resembling Mediterranean resorts.

The Government's Environment Agency has warned Sussex could heat up by six degrees centigrade by 2080.

The traditional Sussex garden of lush lawns and herbaceous borders would dry up and be replaced with a scorched landscape where olive and lemon trees thrive, according to experts from the Royal Horticultural Society.

Many predict the change spelling disaster for the county, others argue the longer summers could be great for business.

The Sussex coast could resemble the French Riviera, with Mediterranean-type food and wine produced.

Brighton hotelier Roger Marlowe, of Paskins Hotel, Charlotte Street, who is chairman of Brighton Food Festival, compared the future Sussex coast to "Nice or Cannes". He said better weather would encourage more holiday-makers to stay at home. The traditional seaside town would become more sophisticated. The days of the kiss-me-quick hats will be finished."

Sun worshippers may revel in the hotter climate but others fear more drought-ravaged summers, followed by harsh winters, would threaten our way of life and the environment we take for granted.

Trevor Weeks, of East Sussex Wildlife Rescue and Ambulance Service, said he is already noticing the effects.

Mr Weeks said hedgehogs were having an extra litter because of the warm weather but their chances of survival were "very low".

"Mothers are abandoning the babies to hibernate."

He said a six-degree rise in temperature "could theoretically mean some species struggle to survive if their food sources struggle."

He said any creature which survives on insects would be endangered, including many bird species and bats.

"Some could become extinct or struggle to survive. It will probably mean a hell of a lot more suffering as a result of climate change."

At its conference to launch its State of the Environment report yesterday, the Environment Agency warned that people must act now to protect the region against the potentially devastatingeffects of global warming.

Howard Davidson, director for the Environment Agency in the Southern region, said rainfall could drop by 60 per cent in the summer months, while temperatures increase by six degrees.

There are 40,000 homes and businesses at risk of coastal and river flooding in Sussex.

He said: "There are also likely to be dramatic effects on wildlife, with mnatural species becoming extinct. The extreme weather conditions could bring prolonged periods of drought." Sir Crispin Tickell, president of the South East Climate Change Partnership, was the keynote speaker at the conference in Gatwick He said: "South East England, according to all the work we do with climate change, is a very vulnerable part of the country and we have to bear that in mind in everything we do in the future."

He added: "Our future is going to be very different from our past.

"More changes have happened in the last 250 years since the industrial revolution than for a very long time before that.

"Our present position is almost unprecedented.

"In the UK, including Sussex, there are questions about what we should do with aquifers and wetlands and if they will be contaminated with salt water as sea levels rise, such as at the Cuckmere Estuary."

Sir Crispin added: "All of us, whether in government or business or universities or society in general, have to learn to negotiate the effects of climate change and for our future, perhaps, to adapt to it."

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