Gearing up for Climate Change

Climate Change - or as it is currently called Global warming - is the increase in the average temperature of the Earth's near-surface air and oceans in recent decades and its projected continuation. Simply put, when you hear terms like emissions, pollution, carbon dioxide, greenhouse effect or ozone layer - all of these terms, which you may have recently heard about in the news - form part of the global problem called Climate Change.

In the beginning of December 2007, government representatives from 190 nations met on the Indonesian island of Bali. Their (e)mission was to agree a new climate deal to replace the ageing 1997 Kyoto Protocol (named after the town in Japan that hosted the original symposium) a pact that the United States refused to ratify. The Bali conference was hailed a success. Last minute negotiations brought the United States reluctantly onside with a commitment to participate in the Bali Road Map - a framework deal to establish a new climate treaty by 2009.

The message that came out of Bali was clear: Climate change is real and it is happening right now. What's more, the UK will likely be one of the first nations to suffer the consequences of a warming world. An example of what could happen in England: rivers across the country could alter their flow rate, due to the effects of changes in rainfall, temperature and other causes that are directly linked to atmospheric variations.

Property owners in the firing line
Did you experience the Great Storm of 1987, the worst storm to hit England since the Great Storm of 1703 - or perhaps the Burns Day storm in 1990, when one of the strongest storms on record charged over Northwestern Europe? If you did you'll remember the devastation they caused. Both wrought extensive damage across large tracts of the countryside and inner cities. Roofs were torn clean away from tens of thousands of buildings, hundreds of thousands of trees were uprooted - many of which smashed into homes and destroyed vehicles. These storms were catastrophic events, meteorologists at the time claiming them to be once in 250-year events.

But the climate is changing, at least according to scientists. A mass of scientific evidence collected over the last two decades shows, unequivocally, that our world is warming. In a warmer world more energy will exist in our atmosphere. This is expected to give rise to stronger and more frequent windstorms rolling in off the Atlantic across the UK. Scenes reminiscent of 1987 and 1990 could become commonplace, properties in the UK being subject to a higher incidence of storm force winds.

Conditions are expected to be wetter too. Flash floods of the likes seen in Boscastle and Crackington Haven in Cornwall during August 2004 are projected to become a regular occurrence - and there is no guarantee as to where it will hit next. Combine this with the accelerated ice melt in the Arctic leading to more extreme coastal flooding events and the outlook is rather grim. All in all it's bad news for property owners, many of whom could find themselves faced with higher property repair bills and insurance premiums as climate change tightens its grip. The question is, are you at risk?

Assessing risk to property from climate change
Climate change poses a risk to all of us. However, some property owners are more vulnerable than others. Properties located in the north and west of the UK are likely to endure the worst of the strengthening windstorms. Exposed elevated locations will be most at risk from wind damage. But even in the cities, such as Manchester for example, damage to property from high winds may become more of an issue.

With more intense rainfall forecast to drop from the storms that cross the UK, city dwellers everywhere are going to be at a higher risk of flash floods. The problem is that our concrete cities cannot absorb rainfall in the same way as fields and soil are able to do in the countryside. The only way rain can escape is via storm drains - and these struggle to cope even now. With a higher incidence of intense rainfall events predicted there's only one outcome to expect -- more flash flooding.

For London and coastal locations the news gets worse. Rising sea levels mean that dwellings on tidal rivers and close to the coast are at a greater risk of flooding by the sea - especially in storm surge conditions as we saw last month down the East Coast. Sea flooding is a serious issue for property owners, not least because of the effects of saltwater on the property's structure.

What can you do to fight climate change?
If you think that your property is located in a vulnerable area - i.e. one that could easily be flooded, either by river or sea, or be exposed to high winds - what should you do to protect yourself? Well, short of moving to or reinvesting in a less vulnerable location, your options are rather limited. Your best course of action really is to tackle the root cause of climate change - the release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

Carbon dioxide (CO2) is the chief greenhouse gas pollutant responsible for causing global warming. Basically, using Gas or Oil-fired Boilers, Petrol powered vehicles or consuming electricity - all contribute to the Greenhouse effect. By changing our lifestyles and activities to reduce the amount of CO2 that we are personally responsible for releasing, either directly or indirectly, into the atmosphere, the greater our impact will be in the fight to stop climate change.

How can this be done in practice? The answer is to use less electricity, petrol and gas! For example, power stations pump massive amounts of CO2 into the atmosphere. By saving energy through better home insulation, switching off lights in rooms that you are not using and changing light bulbs to energy saving ones - or cycling to work once a week - you can save on the amount of CO2 you use.

If we all took up the challenge we could collectively make a very big difference to CO2 output in the UK, and make a real stand against climate change. You will then appreciate and better understand the much uttered term "Carbon Footprint".