Weekly round up- Warnings from the Environment Agency but hope for the future in the Earthshot Prize

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Warning from Environment Agency

This year in Germany hundreds of people died due to flooding and now it is a nationwide concern that the UK will fall to the same fate. Emma Howard Boyd, chair of the Environment agency, states that “It is adapt or die.” So the question remains, will the UK manage to combat this apocalyptic threat? 

Overall in 2020, the UK’s highest temperatures were higher than ever in the records and the global average is expected to increase by three degrees by the end of the century. However, the Environment Agency suggest that even a increase of two degrees could cause devastating effects such as:

  • Winter rainfall up by 6% by the 2050s and 8% by the 2080s 
  • Summer rainfall down by about 15% by the 2050s
  • London’s sea level up by 23cm by the 2050s and 45cm by the 2080s
  • By the 2050s, peak river flows could be up 27% while summer flows could be down as much as 82%
  • An extra 3.4 billion litres of extra water needed every day before 2050. This is on top of the 15 billion used now

Decisions on how the UK will tackle these threats will be discussed at the COP26 climate summit starting on the 31st of October in Glasgow.

 Designing to combat climate change

14 year old girl designs a solar powered ironing cart

Ironing vendors are very common across India and usually the ironing carts are heated with charcoal. Of course the emissions from this have been deemed as very harmful. So, 14 year old Vinisha Umashankar decided to invent an alternative. She said she was “shocked” upon finding out that charcoal could cause “deforestation, air pollution and even climate change” as well as “respiratory diseases”. She saw solar panels to be the best alternative to powering the cart. After all, uniquely in India there are 300 days of sun in a year. Her invention has been nominated for the Earthshot Prize.

The Earthshot Prize

Prince William has launched a £50 million prize fund. A portion of the money would go to five winners a year to create solutions for climate solutions in four areas. These areas are: nature, air, oceans, water and climate. He said he was inspired by his children, wanting to leave a world better looked after for them saying, “I think every parent wants to do the best for their children, and I think we have to have a decade of change, a decade of repairing the planet so that we can hand it on to the next generation.” The categories are supported by the UN Sustainable Development goals encouraging positive change and entrepreneurship. The Earthshot prize- London 2021 will be broadcast on BBC One at 8pm BST on the 17th October for the first awards ceremony. Be sure to tune in!