20130325_C4
Source: Channel 4 News
URL: http://www.channel4.com/news/climate-change-snow-warning-john-beddington
Date: 25/03/2013
Event: An increase in world temperatures "just a symptom" of climate change
Attribution: Channel 4 News
People:
- Sir John Beddington: UK Government Chief Scientist
- Tom Clarke: Channel 4 Science Editor
- Gareth Wyn Jones: Farmer
- Jon Snow: Presenter, Channel 4 News
Jon Snow: The AA is calling it a winter war zone, as patrols fight their way through snowdrifts, ice and floodwater to reach stranded motorists. The Met Office has extended its cold weather alert until the end of the week, warning of bitterly cold winds, snow and more ice to come. And extreme weather could be here to stay, according to the government's outgoing Chief Scientist, Professor John Beddington, who has predicted a future of floods and droughts unless there is urgent action to tackle climate change. Here's our Science Editor, Tom Clarke.
Tom Clarke: There is no doubt something is up with the weather. Cumbria is no stranger to snow but cars completely buried isn't normal in the winter time, let alone late March. [Video footage of a farmer digging a sheep out of a snowdrift.] And it's not just cars that are entombed. There's little in the way of weather that can shock a Welsh shepherd, but this one has never seen the likes. There's been no spring for this season's lambs, and many won't even live till Easter.
Gareth Wyn Jones: You know, you worked so hard to bring your stock up, and then a natural disaster like this could absolutely devastate a lot of farms.
Tom Clarke: And though it might seem ridiculous, this Arctic spell could be symptomatic of our changing climate, according to the outgoing Chief Scientist.
Sir John Beddington: Everybody's sort of looking out of the window and saying "God, it's damn cold! It's not global warming - this is nonsense". "Climate change" is a much better descriptor of what is actually happening in the world, and just one of the symptoms of it is an increase in world temperatures.
Tom Clarke: It's very unscientific to equate our abysmal winter to climate change, but it's underpinned by large-scale weather pheneomena like the jet stream, and those things are predicted to behave very differently when there's more warmth in the atmosphere.
Sir John Beddington: There's no sort of killer facts, that we say "Oh my gosh, climate change must be happening, because of... X. But we do know - and that comes both from the empirical data but also from the modelling - that as the climate change continues, the variability in weather - you know, the floods, the droughts, the heatwaves, the freezing temperatures over winter - all of those are likely to become more frequent and more extreme.
Tom Clarke: When the chief scientist took the job, climate change was at the top of the political agenda. Then came the recession, followed by some atrocious winters like this and summers barely worthy of the name. So if we can't feel climate change, or afford to do anything about it, can we really expect political action?
Tom Clarke [speaking to Sir John Beddington]: The key to your agenda is climate change. Have you, in your time, delivered on that?
Sir John Beddington: Well, I think, in the sense that I continued to advise government about changes in the science on climate change. And I think that sort of advice I've been giving is: it's not going away, it's getting worse.
Tom Clarke: Even though this weather could be because of global warming, it's cooled people's attitudes, and given those who doubt the science of climate change good reason to argue against continued action. The next Chief Scientist, who starts after Easter, has his work cut out.