Hi John,

 

An official drought has been declared in England. We just had the driest July in England since 1935. [1] Parks and fields are the colour of straw and reservoirs are empty.

 

We are living in a climate-changed world, and the UK is recklessly underprepared. [2]

 

It’s time our government faced reality. Tell them to:

 

1. Deliver a proper plan to make our buildings and infrastructure more resilient to extreme weather
2. Improve national water storage to prevent future shortages
3. Force water companies to reduce leaks and increase the efficiency of household and business water usage.

This is just the latest bout of extreme weather to affect the UK but people who live in countries in the Global South have been on the frontlines of the crisis for decades – despite having contributed the least to the problem. [3]

 

The impacts of a changing climate are felt unevenly within the UK too. Households in the most deprived areas and people of colour communities are more likely to be at risk from extreme heat. [4]

 

How much more the climate changes depends on the global effort to halt it. But many of the impacts we’re experiencing have already been locked in. That’s why it’s not enough just to work on prevention or adaptation alone. We desperately need both.

 

We need a positive vision for the UK’s future in this climate-changed world, including a detailed action plan for how we adapt.

 

Tell the UK government to get real about our future - prevent and adapt to climate change.

For the UK, adaptation means things like: insulating and ventilating homes to make them efficient all year round, improving national water storage and preventing leaks so we’re less vulnerable to drought. They must also commit to binding, more ambitious targets to restore nature and wildlife and ban peat burning.

 

But our government isn’t yet taking these kinds of measures. In the last six years, more than 570,000 new homes were built that are not resilient to future high temperatures. [5] There is no proper plan for adaptation and no clear targets to assess progress. [6]

 

As we wait to find out who the next Prime Minister will be, let’s make it clear to both candidates that protecting our future in a climate-changed world should be at the top of their agenda.

 

Thank you for all you do,

 

Flo

Greenpeace UK

 

Notes: 

 

[1] Drought declared in England after driest July since 1935 (Guardian)  

[2] Last year, the Climate Change Committee found that the UK is “less prepared for the changing climate now than it was five years ago.” p9, June 2021: Progress in adapting to climate change (Climate Change Committee) 

[3] Confronting injustice: racism and the environmental emergency (Greenpeace) 

[4] We’re not ready for the age of extreme heat (Greenpeace) 

[5] UK struggling to keep pace with climate change impacts (Climate Change Committee) 

[6] P10, Progress in adapting to climate change, 2021 Report to Parliament, (Climate Change Committee) 

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