What on earth.............................

[Susie Snowdrop]

What's happening...............................

My daffs are through, my fig is budding, I still have ivy leaf geraniums in flower and trailing fuschia, my clems are budding up, I still have flowers on my gerbera, my trailing rosemary is flowering, my neighbours Virburnum bodnentense is in flower..................................what's going on

[Deleted]

think its the weather my hyacinths are coming up grape hyacinth leaves have been up for 2 months and my pyracantha has got new flowers on it.my camelia has got buds on it.

[Susie Snowdrop]

It's scarey......................what have we done to our planet

[Deleted]

Think its damaged in a big way , if we all do our bit we could save it but its not just our country others have got to do it or things will get worse.
I know most of us on here do our bit but every little bit helps.

[Susie Snowdrop]

You're sooooo right Karen.

[Chuckles]

susiesnowdrop said:

What's happening...............................

my clems are budding up, what's going on

Mine too Susie, it's scary. I'm going to take a few of the top shoots off and pop them in some pots of compo and course sand mixed 50 50 and see if they go. Will keep them in the Poly Kennel or GH and see what happens

[Susie Snowdrop]

We're going to have to invent some sort of cooling system for our gardens to ensure that our plants survive . In no time at all, we're going to be left with no British native plants at all in a natural environment . All of our native deciduous trees will disappear without a cold dormant period. It's been so mild here, even though it's windy and wet, not at all normal for the time of year. Apparently, we are set to break all time records for the warmest year ever

[Chuckles]

Just seen that on the news Susie about the warmest year ever and they also said next year could be the same

[Susie Snowdrop]

We're going to have to refrigerate the UK............................any ideas anybody??

[Deleted]

Another thing to think about is its not just plants and crops that are effected its animals and birds as well.
Also our children grandchildren and great grand children will be affected too.

[sweetleaf]

Its greed thats killing our planet,who would have guessed it.
We cant tell 3rd world countries they cant have what weve had, and they cant pollute like we did...politicians are as greedy as everyone else so we cant count on them to fix things.
I wish I could say we have a solution and all will be well, but I cant.
All we can do is cut back on consumption of fuel, and grow as much as we can locally, and hope its enough.

[Deleted]

I'm not too sure about all this global warming ya know.

The “Little Ice Age” resulted in a slight cooling of North America, Europe and probably other areas around the globe and it's not that long since we left the Little Ice Age behind so it's bound to get warmer. Remember that when the romans were in the UK they were growing grapes outside as far north as York.

Other factors in the past have caused global warming such as changes in the earth's orbit, changes in the suns intensity (it's been gradually getting hotter since it's origin), volcanic eruptions increase greenhouse gases and aerosol emissions.

Between roughly 900 and 1300 AD evidence suggests Europe, Greenland and Asia experienced relative warmth. The American West experienced very dry conditions around this time.

Also we have to accept that prior to A.D. 900 due to limited data coverage and challenges in analyzing older data very little confidence can be given to average or global temperatures.

The addition of greenhouse gases and aerosols by man has changed the composition of the atmosphere. The changes in the atmosphere have likely influenced temperature, precipitation, storms and sea level. However, these features of the climate also vary naturally, so determining what fraction of climate changes are due to natural versus human activities is challenging. Part of me can't help in thinking that only man could be so arrogant to think that these changes revolve around him.

However, that all said I do all I can to restrict my production of greenhouse gases but I feel that deforestation is a bigger problem as trees are really the lungs of the earth which deal with CO2. Perhaps each country should measure it's CO2 output and using an equation plant the number of trees required to deal with that output! Naive? Probably..... but simple and effective. Afterall the UK was once a massive forest. The UK lost much woodland prior to the start of the twentieth century what was the effect of this on greenhouse gases?

Just the mutterings of a mad woman!

[sweetleaf]

Actually ZW I think you make a lot of sense,

[4pygmies]

Well, whatever the cause of it I think global warming is a pretty well established phenomenon and as the dominant species on the planet we are responsible for some part of it at least. There are just too many of us! I agree with Sweetleaf that it's a waste of time waiting for the politicians to act so it's up to us folks! I think it's time to stand up and get active - we can all do something - grow our own, buy locally, live a greener lifestyle, don't participate in this mad circus of consumerism and become politically more active. There is too much lethargy in politics today but we can at least all vote or spoil our ballot papers! Reclaim your democratic rights! The internet is a wonderful tool for this - badger your local MP by email, sign online petitions, get in contact with like minded souls etc etc. We are all brainwashed into toeing the line on so many fronts - even our kids have to have to same old rubbishy products. I'm an old hippie and proud of it! It's FATBAGS time!!!

Trying hard not to rant and retain a sense of humour. Let's start by banning Christmas? No....?

[Plocket]

NOOOOOOOOOOO!!! Well not until next year anyway because I've done so much in the way of cooking, buying and wrapping!!!!! ;D

[Cheerypeabrain]

I agree with Ziggywigs....whilst I think that we are doing dreadful damage to the environment I think that the planet itself has it's own weather cycles that we don't really understand. There's also the effect of the sun...I read somewhere that the sun is approaching (or is already in) sunspot minimum...which will affect the amount of solar emissions being launched into space. I'm sure that somebody else will know much more about it than me....there's also 'Global cooling/dimming'...did anyone see BBC2's Horizon about that? Apparently after 9/11 the US banned aircraf in their airspace for a few days...when they later measured the mean temperatures over the period of the ban they found that the temperatures actually rose!! it seems that particles in the polutant from aircraft actually reflects some of the cosmic rays from the sun back out into space, cooling the planet....so when they stopped the planes...there was nothing in the sky to perform this function....consequently all the suns energy was getting through causing a significant rise in temperature....MY BRAIN HURTS......at least that's what I THINK they said.... ;D

[sweetleaf]

I saw a history/weather program which said that in the distant past they used to hold a fair on the thames which was frozen solid for months at a time 17thc? this was due to volcanic eruptions thousands of miles away...a similar effect to a nuclear winter, the details are fuzzy but the gist of the program was that the earth goes through these severe weather changes in a pattern which is so extended, its hard to see the pattern at all.

One thing that alarmed me was that it said that the earth undergoes ice ages at roughly 10,000 year intervals and that the last one was already 10,000+ yrs ago. I hope that was wrong.

[Cheerypeabrain]

I know...makes me shiver just thinking about it. I wonder how we'll all cope...how will we grow our crops etc. THAT would give the farmers a bit more leverage with the supermarkets wouldn't it!
I still think that we should all be concentrating on the environment.....I went to a lecture the other week about water, the hydrogen cycle etc...the chap giving the talk said that in 50 years time there won't be enough drinking water...even with melting ice-caps and the like. One of the biggest problems we need to overcome is population growth...there are just too many of us!.

[Deleted]

Well 4P you'll be glad to know that i stood up and got active! I wrote to my MP about......GM crops and after a nice letter back i got a final response back today with a copy of a letter from Ian Pearson addressing my concerns!

Just the usual standard response i fear! But i will be responding to his comments you can be sure!

Just want to say on the green front.....it's kinda reassuring that folk have taken on board the pointlessness of sending chrimbo cards to all and sundry.....last year i got hunnerds....this year i'm getting nice emails saying they are donating to charity! That'll save a few trees i'm sure.

[sweetleaf]

Thats a good point I havent sent any for years but got one this am from an aunt and uncle I hadnt heard of in 10 yrs! I had presumed that they had passed on, so that was lovely, pity there was no return address....

[4pygmies]

Well, you prolly can't get a postman to deliver to beyond the veil anyway!

[sleepysunday]

Well, you prolly can't get a postman to deliver to beyond the veil anyway!

Oh I don't know - our postman is a little devil

[Deleted]

LOL my postie tells me that all he seems to deliver these days is junk mail. Sad really as i don't even read it just straight in the recycling box!

[sweetleaf]

I didnt mean they had really gone 4P, just that I hadnt heard from them in so long I thought they might have, and didnt dare ask

[sleepysunday]

If it's a problem for you I suppose you could take a contract out on them.

[sweetleaf]

I put all the reply paid stuff back in the envelope and send it straight back to them after removing address details, hoping they get the hint.

[sleepysunday]

Can be expensive though - and you'd still need their address!

[sweetleaf]

sleepysunday said:

Can be expensive though - and you'd still need their address!

Sleepy, I like them they were nice to me I just hope they dont think Im ignoring them, or have moved.

[sleepysunday]

I put all the reply paid stuff back in the envelope and send it straight back to them after removing address details, hoping they get the hint.

Sleepy, I like them they were nice to me I just hope they dont think Im ignoring them, or have moved.

I'm confused - make up your mind girl!

[Deleted]

Sweetleaf....you'll love this. I read somewhere how to deal with junk mail!

If you get junk mail in with a statement or utility bill send it back with your payment. Can you imagine it if all the payments everymonth contained junk mail back to them! If they don't send any you could always recycle some of your other stuff!

When you get those pre-approved letters in the mail for everything from credit cards to 2nd mortgages and junk like that, most of them come with postage paid return envelopes, right? Well, why not get rid of some of your other junk mail and put it in these cool little envelopes!

Send an ad for your local chimney cleaner to American Express. Or a pizza coupon to Westpac bank. If you didn't get anything else that day, then just send them their application back! If you want to remain anonymous, just make sure your name isn't on anything you send them. You can send it back empty if you want to just to keep them guessing!

Eventually, the banks and credit card companies will begin getting all their junk back in the mail. Let's let them know what it's like to get junk mail, and best of all THEY'RE paying for it! Twice!