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What’s the weather like today? WEATHER is a description of what the conditions are like in a particular place … maybe it’s hot, cold, rainy, dry, windy, calm, or stormy. CLIMATE is a description of the average weather conditions in a certain place for the past 30 or so years. Different areas of the world have different climates – influenced by lots of different things, including: distance from the Equator, distance from the sea, how high or low the ground is or its position on a continent.
Climate change is making our weather more extreme and unpredictable. Around the world we are beginning to see more rainfall and storms, more droughts and forest fires, changing seasons, shrinking sea ice and rising sea levels.
In the UK, April ’20 witnessed severe flooding, yet April ’21 was extraordinarily dry. This April we’ve had a fair number of ‘April showers’! In many parts of the world, people can feel overwhelmed by flooding, and yet at other times wait in desperation for the next rains to ensure they can grow enough food to eat. Living with increasing uncertainty and unpredictability is very difficult.
Do you think that we sometimes take water for granted? Have you any idea how much water you use in a week? You might like to try and work it out! The average individual in the UK uses 140 litres of water per day. A typical bath takes 80 litres. A dripping tap can waste 95 litres in a day. Do you leave your tap running when you brush your teeth? Do you choose a super long shower? Do you do the washing up in a bowl, or leave the tap running? Pumping, treating, delivering, heating and disposing of water all result in carbon emissions, exacerbating climate change. Your challenge is to save water this week – can you be super vigilant and turn off taps when not needed?
Climate Change is making water issues worse. Droughts can dry up springs, and floods can pollute water sources both making it difficult to access clean drinking water, and increasing the likelihood of water-borne diseases. Droughts and floods also make it difficult to grow and transport food. Children are particularly impacted – getting to school can be difficult and girls often have to spend more time fetching water for their families. WaterAid works to help ensure communities around the world have a steady supply of clean water - whatever the weather – learn more about climate change and water here.
When you have saved water and thought about worldwide water issues, don’t forget to HIT THE RED BUTTON.
