A Flood of Excuses....

The floods that have hit England in the last few weeks are a massive wake up call, both for responses to climate change and preparedness for the inevitable disasters that this will bring. Natural disasters not only lay a physical toll on a country's infrastructure in particular housing but also exact a heavy political price on government. Whereas terrorism, economic downturn or social disorder can be attributed to certain groups, global trends or individuals, natural disasters have no scapegoat. A political response above blame-pointing is now needed.

President Bush was left floundering with no one to blame in the wake of hurricane Katrina, but managed to make Michael D. Brown the fall guy. Environmental secretary Hillary Benn puts this down to unprecedented rain levels rather than poor flood defences, in an old new labour spin. Prime minister Brown has avoided the denial and thankfully acknowledged that global environmental changes are a cause, but must admit that the country has been hit hard. However stating that we must adapt and cope is not a satisfactory approach for the future.

The political debate focuses on whether the government was prepared, but no political party anticipated this and their reactions have been damp. David Cameron has been criticised for an overseas trip to Africa, whilst his county is three feet under. Since no political party had factored in these events in their environmental policy, they are all treading water.

Environmental disasters always offer an opportunity for the Green party to state their case, and Principal Speaker Dr. Derek Wall has condemned the government's hypocritical environmental policy: "Government failure to prepare for the flooding is matched by government failure to tackle the causes of climate change. On the one hand the government is encouraging the building of new houses on flood plains, on the other it is expanding Heathrow and our motorway network." How much of a role climate change played in this deluge is unclear though. Dr Malcolm Haylock, an expert on climate extremes: "You can't attribute any specific event to climate change."

As the floods subside though, will this be an opening salvo in our future battle with the climate or will it be another episode in Britain's wacky weather history. Only certain parts of the UK have been effected and summer 2008 could be its usual mild and only slightly unpredictable self. But it might not be floods next time. An urgent public inquiry into prevention and preparedness against all natural disasters is now a priority.

http://www.theecologist.org/blog_full.asp?blog_detail_id=166
http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/subjects/flood/