Latest editorial
A general view of Fawley Oil Fired Power Station, Southampton, Hampshire
PEOPLE in Britain are increasingly exposed to dangerous extreme heat as global health threats of climate change reach record-breaking levels, experts have warned.
The Lancet’s annual countdown report on health and climate change, published today, reveals that worldwide, people faced an average of 50 extra days of dangerously high temperatures due to climate change last year, while extreme drought affected 48 per cent of land areas.
Frequent heatwaves and droughts left 151 million more people food insecure compared with 1981-2010, the report found.
When it comes to extreme weather events, from wildfires to flash floods, it’s firefighters who are on the front line of defence, but services have been cut to the bone, and government is not taking seriously its responsibility for the environment, says STEVE WRIGHT
