Professor Leigh Hoath of climate change education at Leeds Trinity University worries that the residents of the city aren’t concerned enough about the effects of climate change.
“I don’t think anywhere is doing enough, but I do know that I work with a number of councillors and MPs [in Leeds] that are committed to change.”
This year’s storms, such as Babet and Ciaran, have seen major devastation across the City Centre.
Storm Ciaran saw 40mm-60mm of rainfall across different areas of Leeds.
Residents of the Leeds area have faced difficulties caused by the destructive weather, such as damages to businesses and homes, travel disruptions, bursting riverbanks and the flooding of main roads.
Leeds City Council are implementing their flood alleviation scheme, which will be completed in 2025 and aims to reduce the risk of floods across the city by building flood defence walls and creating a flood storage area in Cragg Wood.
The Environment Agency working alongside Leeds City Council hopes to protect 1,048 homes and 474 businesses with the alleviation plans, which will protect areas in the city for up to 200 years.
Experts suggest that the warmth in the air is ultimately caused by climate change and an increase in temperature is to blame for more frequent storms. NASA has predicted that by 2100, ‘extreme storms will increase by 60%.’
The graph below shows the mean height of the monthly temperature in Leeds every decade for the last 50 years.
The mean temperature has had an overall 3-degree increase.
Climate experts, Greenpeace said:
“Scientists are now finding that significant changes to weather patterns may be happening over much shorter timescales, due to global average temperature rises driven by increasing greenhouse gas emissions.”
“This is what’s making extreme weather more likely and more severe.”
Professor Hoath also said: “Everybody doing their bit helps, there’s no doubt about it. But we need something more than, just recycling, we need people to make bigger decisions about that. Even where the food that we buy, where it’s coming from.”
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