Choice 19. Adapting to our Changing Climate

Did you know the UK is one of the most nature-depleted countries on the planet?

That depletion makes nature (and hence us humans) vulnerable to climate change.

Any investment in nature is investment in adaptation but where do we start?

On 28th February 2022, IPCC – Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, published its report on impacts of climate change, our vulnerabilities to it and how we can adapt.

They issued a stark warning that climate change is already happening and humans have already caused irreversible changes to nature. They also made unflinchingly clear that we are running out of time to avert catastrophic change, and to ensure that our planet remains liveable. These are stark and dramatic words, by mostly scientists, who are not given to dramatic statements.

In this episode we want to talk about what this means for our planet, our health and our wallets, as the strap line of our podcast says. Also, supported by this information, how can we make better decisions for our households, businesses and policies?

Perhaps most importantly, can we adapt to climate change in a way that creates a greener, cleaner and kinder world?

Evidence so far that adaptation works so we have every reason to talk about risks and actions to address them.

We are joined today by Kathryn Brown OBE, who is the Director of Climate Change and Evidence for the Wildlife Trusts in the UK. She has been working in this area for almost 20 years - the last 10 with the UK Climate Change Committee and before then on international negotiations and carbon budgets as well as adaptation for the UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

- know your carbon, Kathryn says

- don't buy peat compost

- write to your MP, visit their surgery, talk to them / ask them about climate change...are they asking questions against the Net Zero strategy? Why?! 

- join your local Wildlife Trusts and other NGOs and campaigns!