It’s hard to ignore the rising temperatures, the week surrounding Christmas sported temperatures of 14-15°C in the UK, typical of the spring season, not mid-winter. I’m sure if you live in suburban areas you will have noticed the daffodils sprouting (several months premature) and several bees bumbling around confused as to where the flowers are. Understandably these small changes might not seem like disastrous consequences of climate change to you at this very second, but if you take into account the ecosystem as a whole, I’m sure you can be swayed to do your bit this year.
The issue is if the daffodils or any flowers sprout early without the presence of bees then they cannot cross pollinate effectively. In line with this if the bees appear and there are no flowers, because they have already been and gone or are yet to flower, then they cannot collect nectar to produce honey for their winter stores.
This will result in the next year there being fewer bees surviving the winter and less flowers blooming in summer as they have not been successfully pollinated. To widen the picture away from our little daffodil communities 30% of the world’s crops and 90% of wild plants rely on cross pollination with the aid of bees to thrive. Can you see where this is going?
So to start the year, amid the endless number of resolutions being made, make sure doing your bit for the Green planet is included this year. Whether it’s only using the kettle to boil the water you need, switching lights off, air drying instead of tumble drying, taking a hot water bottle to bed or putting on some of those Christmas jumpers you have as an extra layer instead of ramping the heating up, be proud to do your bit.
For our generation, as far as I am aware, Earth is the only viable planet we can live on, and despite there being a natural element to global warming, there is no harm trying to delay the process as much as possible; if not for the sake of our future generations then for the sake of our race.