It looks like Copenhagen has been a failure.  In the end the politicians will have come up with a fudge they can be positive about, and we shall have to work with that; but it seems that whilst everyone agreed that two degrees should be the target, their actions (or lack of them) will more likely result in four degrees of warming.

This is a shame, because whilst at two degrees most climate changes can be lived with and adapted to, at four degrees we are well on the way to runaway climate change. At four degrees, Alexandria, Boston, London, Mumbai, New York and Venice are all below sea level by 2075.  Bangladesh will be losing one third of its land area.  The rich countries will doubtless spend billions shoring up sea defences, but in the end they will fail, and billions of people will be displaced.

Shropshire Council has already calculated that at four degrees the River Severn will be dry in summer and flooding regularly in winter by 2080. Here in Stretton we are unlikely to still be running the annual Duck Race as Carding Mill Valley will be either too dry or too dangerous.  Look at all those hills and imagine what a flash flood would do to our town…

Meanwhile Southern Europe and Southern Africa will become arid desert, and the south-east of the UK will suffer severe drought; but in general, the UK will be one of the most attractive locations to live in. So we can expect lots of those displaced billions to be heading in our direction. It will all end in tears…