The UK must take urgent action to prepare for the impact of climate change, the government has been warned.

Ministers should focus on the future risks of heatwaves and flooding, says the Committee on Climate Change.

Its report said more needed to be done to keep emissions on track, although the government said it was committed to meeting its climate change target.

It also warned a decision to stop onshore wind farm subsidies early could potentially add £1bn a year to bills.

The report by the Committee on Climate Change looked at progress towards meeting carbon emission targets and how the UK is preparing for climate change risks.

Chairmen Lord Deben and Lord Krebs said measures were needed to address increased flood risk to homes and to protect farmland from declines in productivity.

Lord Krebs said: "By the 2050s the sort of heatwaves we might experience in the next few days will be the norm, a typical summer."

The committee also called for action to make homes and buildings safer during heatwaves.

read more: http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-33315125

Warmest June temperatures for Perth

Perth has recorded its warmest June on record with the average maximum temperature of 21 degrees Celsius.

The Weather Bureau's Neil Bennett said today's maximum reached just more than 23 degrees.

"So that is the warmest June on record," he said.

"The previous warmest was back in 1983 when we got to 20.6 [degrees] so well and truly past that.

"The early part of the month was very warm indeed but then we had quite a cold snap moving through.

"During June 13 and 14 temperatures did drop down, then on the 22nd we got down to 15.8 [degrees].

"It has also picked up right over the last couple of days, in fact yesterday was 24.4 degrees which was just about the second warmest day this month."

read more: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-06-30/warmest-june-for-perth/6585180

China will aim to cut its greenhouse gas emissions per unit of gross domestic product by 60-65% from 2005 levels under a plan submitted to the United Nations ahead of crucial climate change talks in Paris later this year.

The pledge has been eagerly awaited as the country is the world’s largest carbon emitter.

China said it would increase the share of non-fossil fuels as part of its primary energy consumption to about 20% by 2030, and peak emissions by around the same point, though it would “work hard” to do so earlier.

The figures are contained in a document submitted to the United Nations ahead of the next round of UN climate talks in Paris. All countries are expected to submit their national pledges to reduce carbon emissions beyond 2020, also known as Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDC).

read more: http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/jun/30/china-carbon-emissions-2030-premier-li-keqiang-un-paris-climate-change-summit

As the entire Western World relies on China's sweat shops for its trinkets, China is hard-pressed to find ways to limit "our" displaced emissions... but it is working at it.

Australia’s foreign minister, Julie Bishop, has played down the significance of China unveiling its post-2020 emissions reduction target, saying Beijing’s position has been known “for some time”.

The world’s largest emitter of carbon dioxide has pledged to cut its greenhouse gas emissions per unit of gross domestic product by 60-65% from 2005 levels, and increase the share of non-fossil fuels as part of its primary energy consumption to about 20% by 2030.

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/jul/01/julie-bishop-plays-down-china-60-carbon-reduction-pledge

See toon at top...

Britain experienced its warmest July day on record as roads melted, trains were delayed, and bottled water was handed out to truck drivers caught in huge tailback on the M20 due to the Calais strike.

Heathrow was the hotspot – both politically and physically – as the mercury clocked 36.7C, the highest in July since records began in the mid 1870s with the introduction of standardised thermometer exposure, and edging out Wisley, Surrey, which saw 36.5C in 2006.

Parts of the UK – which was on a Level 3 “heatwave action” health alert – had higher temperatures than in Barcelona, Ibiza and Athens as the Met Office weather map was a rainbow hue of purple (very very hot), red (very hot) and orange (just hot) .

Paris and Madrid proved hotter, recording 39C and 37C respectively. 

Extra water points were laid on at Wimbledon as the championships experienced the hottest day in its history at 35.7C, topping the 34.6C seen during the scorching summer of 1976. A ball boy collapsed and was taken to hospital, while Judy Murray added her voice to calls for a “heat rule” for male players to bring them into line with rules of female players. Bookmaker William Hill offered odds of play being suspended because of heat, rather than the traditional rain, of 10/1.

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/jul/01/heatwave-hits-heathrow-temperature-airport-flies-past-32c

Global warming is real. The denialists are deliberately IGNORANT bastards who are stopping us from solving this GROWING problem... There is enough EXTRA (anthropogenic) CO2 in the atmosphere to make temperature rise for another 500 years, possibly 5000 years. At present trend, with existing CO2 in the atmosphere, the rise of temperature in 500 years will be more than 10 degrees Celsius above present. THIS IS WHY IT IS URGENT for humanity TO STOP INJECTING MORE anthropogenic CO2 IN THE ATMOSPHERE. In two hundred years temperatures in London, Paris and Madrid could reach 50 degrees Celsius.

WE HAVE TO STOP BURNING FOSSIL FUELS... FULL STOP. NOW.

The role was frequently one of the first casualties when news organizations dived head first into the digital age and we’ve been served with continuous examples of why they’re important ever since.

The UK arm of the Huffington Post offered up the latest illustration on Monday when it diminished the dignified tone of a video showing Attenborough’s appeal to world leaders to take action on climate change by describing the famous natural historian as a ‘naturist’, .i.e. someone who likes to bare all in public.

Read more:

https://www.rt.com/news/445549-attenborough-huffington-post-nude/

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