I am a great believer in letting nature have its way. But this fat wisteria in Sheen, south-west London, is truly extraordinary. Are the residents very thin? The gap is about 10 inches.
Cripes - only a month to go now before I leave BBC after 35 years. I did my last turn on Today Prog earlier. Felt very upset walking home. Not for me, but for the fate of the planet. Most people still have no idea how bad it's likely to be.
I’ve just been kicked out of this ‘private event’ - a lobby conference with
@rishisunak
about to start. I’ve been reporting on climate for 35 years so it’s possible I know more than most Pollcorrs. That’s why the environment corrs are left outside.
@fionaharvey
Cutting my London hedge used to leave me with choking throat and stinging eyes from the pollution particles trapped in it. Thanks to
#ULEZ
it’s fine now. I needed to wipe the washing line before pegging out. I don’t need to now.
#War
on drivers??? Nonsense.
Even if you hate
@GreenpeaceUK
, you might give them credit for a really smart stunt, draping
@RishiSunak
house in black. No-one hurt or delayed. Over quickly. No huge police presence. Unmissable image for media.
400,000 trees planted in roadwork schemes have died. This is exactly why we shouldn’t rely on treeplanting carbon offsets. We should wake up to the fact that
#netzero
is not enough. We need absolute zero.
@billmckibben
@ProfBillMcGuire
Brutal take-down of
@RestoreTrustNT
at
@nationaltrust
AGM. RT wants Trust to publish funding sources and show salaries. Trust does that, but RT refuses.
56% of young people think humanity is doomed by climate change. Climate fears are rational, researchers say. Meanwhile papers say road-blocking ecoactivists are irresponsible.
@eciu
@CarbonBrief
@GeorgeMonbiot
It’s damn cold in london today. So why does
#apple
, which wants to be a
#climate
leader, have double doors permanently open when it’s heating the inside?
I've finally left BBC after 35 years on the environment. Thanks everyone for the tributes. Many brought me to tears. The one I like best was from UN's
@Nick_Nuttall
: "BBC without Roger is like solar power without sun, gin without tonic, the Muppets without Kermit."
@rburgessbbc
Global heating likely to hit food supply before 1.5C, says UN expert. Really important story from
@fionaharvey
. We’re seeing devastation with 1.2C heating. We are heading for 3C. We aim to hold emissions by 2050. This is absurdly reckless
Extraordinary - and outrageous. Two
@InsulateBritain
supporters jailed for seven weeks after being found in contempt of court for telling a jury that fuel poverty and the climate crisis motivated them to join the 2021 roadblocks. Judge told them not to mention the C word.
Did
#COP26
keep possibility of 1.5 alive? It depends on your faith in politicians to deliver. Remember UK is building roads and carbon-hungry HS2; drilling for more oil; making it cheaper to fly and drive in Britain.
@RishiSunak
didn’t mention climate in Budget. Do we trust??
Appalled to hear effects of drought on
#Wye
and
#Usk
. No rain since March 10 says
@BBCFarmingToday
. That’s with just 1.2C of heating. We are heading for 2-3C warming. I look forward to hearing discussion in the
#Tory
leadership race.
HS2: The secret files that expose a multibillion-pound cover-up. Fancy that.
#HS2
is even worse than we thought and its how long construction will continue to emit Co2 for the rest of the century. A collective failure of parliament, govt and media.
I’m bored of saying it but just remember all this is with the temperature rise of just over one degree when we’re heading towards 3°. And we won’t get net 0 until 2050. Racing towards the cliff.
Flooding will substantially damage UK harvest in 2024 after the wettest 18 months on record, driven by warm temps locally & globally
This should (but likely won't) be a good corrective to the bunch who think 'we can just adapt' to climate change
The effects of global heating are more severe than scientists expected - and they’ll almost certainly get much worse still, the UN’s former climate change chief. Prof Bob Watson told me. He said extreme weather events at 1.2C will be dwarfed as the world heats more.
It is all the more distressing and outrageous that our prime minister, in the face of this avalanche of concern from scientists, decides to water down policies to tackle climate change. He will not be judged kindly.
Scientists are running out of words to describe the dramatic acceleration in global warming - Aug and now Sept 2023 were the hottest months ever recorded on Earth. The planet is entering dangerous territory, unprecedented for as much as 3 million years.
More than 50,000 of you are following me on Twitter. Thank you. I must decide now where to focus when I leave the BBC in a month. This weekend my grandson is getting christened. What sort of a world will he inherit, I wonder?
Some of us have been saying for years that
#HS2
is a dud. But the government was lured by the construction industry, and Labour by the rail unions into supporting this absurdly wasteful project. Trainspotting Greens backed it too. What a shameful affair.
I just had a day trip to Manchester and Liverpool then back to London. It’s been painless. I worked quietly with no email distraction. Why anyone needs to shave 20 mins off the journey, I cannot imagine. The people I’ve come to visit think the same. Politicians want
#hs2
Ocean heat record smashed, with grim implications. This with warming of just 1.2° when scientists warn we are heading towards 3°. And in the week that the UK announces a bonanza for oil and gas. Will BBC Join the dots?
@BBCJustinR
I'm reporting tomorrow on the America heatwave. Professor Sir Brian Hoskins, tells me: “The extreme nature of the record (4.6C higher) is a cause for real concern. The models' behaviour may be too conservative." Plainly climate change could be worse than we thought.
Extraordinary that N Sea drilling, which could take decades is being touted by Tories as a solution to today’s cost of living crisis. Either they don’t know this or they’re trying to fool the public. Short term solutions are energy saving (ignored) and solar (rejected).
To all those environmentalists cheering the demise of
@BorisJohnson
– pause your celebrations until you see who comes next. There are plenty of contenders willing to flirt with the Climate Sceptic right wing
Prince Charles has used his office to promote concern about climate change. If he takes a vow of silence on the issue as king, a significant influence on national sentiment will be lost. Unless, that is, other Royals step up
Now we can see the devastation
#climatechange
will bring, with Libya floods and Antarctic ice loss. That’s with 1.2C rise so far. We’re heading towards 3C. So
@RishiSunak
decides to weaken green policies under pressure from the right. Really?
As a former colleague, I wonder how the great Corporation will respond to what is now clearly a climate emergency. This is a completely different sort of category to any other story on the news. It’s time for them to respond appropriately
I do understand how people find they just can't handle any more bad climate news but...we've reached a point where scientists can't believe the temperatures that we're reaching. Thanks to
@ed_hawkins
I read that the
@Telegraph
is saying it's too late to combat climate change - better to adapt to it. Surely not? Its columnists have said for decades that climate's no big problem.
No10 gives impression that 26% of land is already protected for Nature, so we're on the road to 30%. But that's false. Only 10% is protected for Nature, and half that is in poor condition.
A reminder. May 2021: “Development of new
#oil
and
#gas
must stop this year and no new coal power stations can be built if the world is to meet the goal of net zero emissions by 2050, said the
@IEA
. It undertook the report at the request of the UK govt.
No10 is briefing that I say PM's
#NetZero
plans lead the world. That's true but I also predict they won't happen cos of lack of cash, PM's belief that tech will prevail, and his love of HS2, roads, oil, Cumbrian coal, beef, SUVs and flying.
@GeorgeMonbiot
Spending £1bn to insulate the worst homes is welcome - but the govt has been repeatedly told what's needed is a predictable multi-£bn effort over decades to grow an entire insulation industry.
Six members of Doctors for XR cracked glass at JP Morgan offices in Canary Wharf . Group included two GPs, child mental health specialist, gynaecologist, consultant psychiatrist. Stickers on windows read ‘in case of medical climate emergency break glass’. It's hot.
@xr_cambridge
Preserving existing peat is by far, by far the easiest and cheapest way of cutting carbon emissions. Yet the UK stumbles blindly onwards through the bog. What a disgrace
This is so bitterly disappointing, and stinks of pathetic, "can't do" lobbying by a sector that's had 30 years to prepare
I sometimes wonder if the UK Horticulture sector is one of the least innovative, most dinosaur-like sectors in existence
It's blindingly obvious that the government should stop funding any infrastructure development that doesn’t improve the climate or health. The
@theCCCuk
will offer advice on Weds.
Loire Valley: heatwave parches France's 'garden'. We’re getting repeated extreme weather with just 1.2C of warming globally. We’re heading for 2C heating at least.
Libertarians say don’t worry about climate change. Well, I’m worried.
There is an argument that when we journalists report a wild weather episode proved to be related to climate change, we should routinely say “and this is with just one degree of warming, whereas we are heading towards 3°“
Earth is now so far out of equilibrium (at around 1.1°C global mean surface temperature rise) that it is rapidly moving into a state hostile to existing human settlement of the planet. At this temperature, realistic projected costs are off the scale. 1.5°C impacts are unthinkable
‘No one wants to be right about this’: climate scientists’ horror as global predictions play out The excellent
@BillHareClimate
says "It’s as if humans have received a terminal medical diagnosis and know a cure, but has decided not to save itself.
W Antarctic ice shelf melt 'unavoidable'. The result is potentially appalling. Why no graphic on
@BBCNews
site showing how many cities would drown without massive spending? And what about farmland?
@rburgessbbc
@BBCJustinR
#Climate
conference is being forced down the news agenda by the collapse of Thomas Cook, whose business is the fastest growing source of carbon emissions.
#Irony
@GeorgeMonbiot
At least two decades ago I realised the climate threat from Big Farmer (geddit?) But the BBC was getting such stick for my reports on CO2 from cars, planes and industry that I decided to go gently on the ag agenda. A shame, as
@GeorgeMonbiot
explains.
Just a reminder... that well-known Green activist M Thatcher said in 1990: “The danger of global warming is as yet unseen, but real enough for us to make changes and sacrifices, so that we do not live at the expense of future generations.”
When at Liz Truss was running department for the environment she came to chat to Bbc bosses. I asked her how she would protect the environment. She replied that the best policy for protecting the environment is de- regulation. Really.
@BBCMarshall
@charlottebsmith
@rburgessbbc
Anecdotal - but here’s the harrabin household assessment of
#ULEZ
. We both notice we no longer need to wipe dirt off the washing line before hanging clothes. Windows are cleaner too. We used to breathe this filth.
@POSSIBLE
@SadiqKhan
Rishi Sunak made an extraordinary mistake in obeying the shouts from the right of his party to talk down Net Zero. We are in a global crisis and his attempts to downplay it make him look ridiculous and desperate.
This is interesting polling showing a majority of voters in Conservative rural heartland seats supports net zero, nature-friendly farm payments, and renewable energy generation.
John Houghton -
#climatechange
pioneer, dies with C-19. In the late 1980s he awakened me to the global risk we're taking. Always calm, measured, modest. A Christian, he worked to convince US evangelical about the science. A good man.
@revkin
Brilliant explainer on climate change on
@BBCWorld
. I know all this stuff, but it still knocked me sideways to see it presented in this way. Highly commended viewing.
Depressing to see that the only compost on sale in Tesco is peat-based. Can't we even take the smallest of steps to save our planet?
@tesconews
#GardenJungle
Are we to blame for the heatwaves? is a Times headline. Can we stop posing attention-grabbers like this which allow people to doubt the very simple fact that all
#heatwaves
are made more frequent and worse because of emissions from humankind. Fact.
One week to go before leaving BBC. Too busy to be scared yet. Did interview on radio four feedback prog on climate coverage. A friend said I sounded like BBC management. Just finished documentary on iPlayer called the art of cutting carbon. Very proud of it. Out next Wednesday
Has
@MPGeorgeEustice
been hoodwinked into thinking that British steel producers need coal from the proposed Cumbrian mine? I rang round the steelmakers. And they simply don’t need it. Most will be exported.
Strong recommendation: watch
#DontLookUp
on Netflix. It's not a great film, but its depiction of political and media inaction is spot on... painfully so for those of us tangled up with it.
@GeorgeMonbiot
What a bizarre and extraordinary claim. Matt Ridley says:
“If I waved a magic wand and gave the world unlimited clean and cheap energy tomorrow, I expect many climate scientists would be horrified”
Brilliant expose of
#Tuftonst
dirty tricks by
@DrSimEvans
. Why does this discredited spin factory which crashed the UK economy with Liz Truss continue to command column inches? How a so-called thinktank got the cost of net zero for the UK wildly wrong
Important roads story risks being over-shadowed by Met Office. Here it is: The government should use its current road-building budget to fill potholes instead, and work on squeezing demand for driving, the Commons Transport Committee says.
Six
@XRebellionUK
members found not guilty of damage to
@shell
office. Even though judge said they had no defence in law. Could prove a landmark decision - ordinary people accepted their case.
@GretaThunberg
Letter in
@TheTelegraph__
SIR – Charles Moore says the BBC exaggerates climate change. I think it fails to convey the full magnitude of the threat.
News organisations must find a way to inform their audiences about this defining threat. See my LinkedIn
Countdown: Leaving
@BBC
staff in two months after 36 years on the
#environment
beat. Looking forward to a freelance life of journalism, after-dinner speaking, chairing (see LinkedIn). My Carbon Family sculptures will be unveiled at end of July at
@EdenProject
roger
@harrabin
.com
I just felt a flash of resentment when first a plane and then a car drowned out the beautiful birdsong in my back garden. Then I realised normally I don’t properly hear the birdsong at all.
Govt offers £5000 Voucher to insulate your home. Poorest will get insulation free. Costs £2bn. Also £1bn for public buildings retrofit. A breakthrough. UK must tackle cold homes to hit emissions targets. cash to be spent in fin yr. huge jobs boost.
@e3g
@GeorgeMonbiot
@ECIU_UK
Head of Royal Met Soc Liz Bentley tells me the swing from record wet to record sunshine in UK weather is "unprecedented" and "concerning" because it shows how much
#climate
is changing..
MAny leading scientists I know are terrified by what is happening…Much faster than they expected. But the debate at
#COP28
has been constrained by reference to the
#Ipcc
’s necessarily dated analysis. We have set the bar too low, but the media doesn’t say so.
“A major conclusion of the last 20 years of climate science is that tipping points present greater risks at lower temperatures than was understood in 2001.”
@Sir_David_King
Whilst the analysis of Hansen et al is at the high end of the IPCC's climate sensitivity range, given the dire consequences if they're correct, it's this value that should guide the scale & timeline of mitigation. Yet rhetoric & lies remain the currency of most political leaders.
Media outlets are still asking if Climate Change is to blame for
#Hawaii
disaster . Simple answer is climate change makes every wildfire more likely and more severe - however many other factors are involved. Please let’s not keep pretending it’s an open question.
@BBCNews
How come the Supreme Court makes a ruling that will compromise still further the efforts made to rescue this fragile planet? You can trace it back to the fossil fuel firms who funded so-called think tanks to turn
#climatechange
into a partisan issue. Good job, guys.
Analysis shows yet more record temperatures .
@WMO
says it’s very concerned. Especially over the completely unexpected ocean heating. Report is currently not running on
@BBCNews
at all and story nine on TheTimes. Sex pictures are much more compelling. What will our kids say?
There’s a severe Marine
#heatwave
off north east England – driven upwards by
#CO2
emissions. Government response is to seek more oil and gas. Labour appears to be nervous of mentioning the C word For fear of Mail. What a state we are in.
@BBCJustinR
@ChiefExecCCC
@Ed_Miliband