Funny weather?

We know about climate change, so let's do something in Highbury to tackle it...

Funny weather we're having this year in N5, N4 and N1 aren't we? One moment it's wet. Then cloudbursts. Then steamy hot. Then mizzle. It turns organising summer picnics on Highbury Fields, Gillespie Park or a rug in the back garden into more of a risk sport than a mealtime diversion.

The weather has been getting stranger for some years now though, and not just in Islington.

In fact if you look at the weather records it's fascinating seeing how often this month we're in right now has just been the warmest, or wettest, or driest - since records began in 1854. Check for yourself at bbc weather. As 2008 is an Olympics year it's quite human to want records to be smashed. But when it comes to the weather, it ought to be seasonal variation, not global change.

Most of us know that a build up of greenhouse gases is changing our climate, see how in the very detailed Stern Report here.

Carbon dioxide - which our homes and cars, schools and buses release by the tonne - is one of these greenhouse gases and it is helping to warm up the Earth's atmosphere. It's no comfort to know that carbon dioxide molecules have a long, long life - at around 100 years it's longer than we can expect. So every time we use a fossil fuel like carbon dioxide it's not just having an instant impact, it's going to keep on heating up the atmosphere for the next 100 years.

Some people talk about global warming. But here in the UK, in this bit of Islington, it's simpler to explain the variation in our weather if we blame it on a changing climate.

The expression "climate change" neatly explains that the weather is more unsettled (and generally warmer around here) but if in the future something went wrong with the warming Gulf Stream current that hugs the west coast of our island, making it a great deal colder, then no one would be embarassed.

We can start tackling climate change by making our homes more energy efficient. That way we also reduce the pain of all these rising fuel bills (nice), and try to shrink our own carbon footprint.
We cannot tackle climate change by claiming that the unreliable British summer weather is the reason we need to hop on a plane and take off to somewhere we think will be sunnier. But don't worry if you have - some treats are really hard to alter. The task of this blog is for us all in Highbury to share ways to tackle climate change that we can manage, whatever the weather.