It’s funny, though not entirely surprising, how pink-complexioned, late middle-aged and elderly men who have a problem with immigration and ‘wokery’ tend also to be climate change sceptics.
These unqualified, self-appointed climatologists won’t hesitate in pouring scorn on Greta Thunberg and the prevailing science, based solely on their own individual circumstances and observations.
In a recent example, former Coronation Street actor Charlie Lawson used social media to attempt to debunk the climate change myth.
Between retweeting posts from Marine Le Pen supporters and various Zionist sympathisers, the Cheshire-domiciled Ulsterman took to X to tell us it was “friggin’ Baltic” in his part of north-west England and that “all those guys out there tellin’ you the world’s boiling”, are apparently talking “bol***ks”, so they are.
Buckle up!!! pic.twitter.com/hW54xcbvrC
— Charlie Lawson (@charlie_lawson1) July 6, 2024
This illuminating insight from the Enniskillen-born, Eleventh night bonfire-lighting thespian — who was again signed up along with Arlene Foster to present GB News’s coverage of the Twelfth – came a matter of days before a report that found the average global temperature last month was warmer than any previous June on record.
Temperature data compiled by the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service showed it was the 13th consecutive month to be the warmest in the global records for the respective month of the year.
The average surface air temperature for the world last month was 16.66C, which was 1.5C above the pre-industrial average temperature for the month of June.
We can only assume Cheshire wasn’t included in the data because of Brexit.
Already the impact of climate change is evident in our gardens, with fewer and later frosts, along with wetter winters. These transformations will mean we can grow plants that were previously considered too tender or had to be lifted over winter. On the downside, pests and plant pathogens ordinarily killed off by prolonged freezing temperatures will have a greater chance of surviving from one year to the next.
Yet rising temperatures doesn’t immediately mean heatwaves, as our unpredictable summers demonstrate, ranging in recent years from the tropical to the friggin’ Baltic.
Met Éireann last week said the average temperature for June in the Republic was 13.18C, making it the coldest June since 2015.
The National Trust says climate change presents the single biggest threat to the places in its care and the single biggest challenge to achieving its mission. I can only guess how Charlie Lawson would respond
Meanwhile, one garden that’s forecast to disappear as a consequence of climate change is a significant swathe of Mount Stewart on the shores of Strangford Lough in Co Down.
According to the National Trust, the estate and gardens’ most famous area, the Formal Gardens, will be “slowly consumed by both salt and rainwater sometime in the next 100 years”.
The National Trust team at Mount Stewart’s response to the risks posed by climate change, which involves planting an entirely new area further inland, recently saw them pick up first prize for Climate Mitigation Measures in Parks or Gardens in the European Garden Award.
Other elements of the project include maintaining the historic ‘sea plantation’ which shelters the area near the house, and introducing plants that are more resilient to windy and salty conditions.
Awarded by the European Garden Heritage Network, the accolade is regarded as a ‘seal of quality’ for outstanding achievement in contemporary garden design, the management and development of historic gardens, and climate adaptation measures.
The National Trust says climate change presents the single biggest threat to the places in its care and the single biggest challenge to achieving its mission.
I can only guess how Charlie Lawson would respond.
