Environment Agency on Flood Risks

OK, so true to my word, here is my first post on environmental news.

The Environment Agency has suggested that the UK needs a national strategyto protect key buildings from the risk of flooding. They cite the necessity to ensure safe running of hospitals and power stations. The agency is urging us to act now, before our next (and there will be one) weather catastrophe strikes.

They also suggest that individuals sign up to warning schemes and mention the 34 flood defences they have helped construct to protect homes since last year's floods, but the thrust of their argument is on the safeguarding of infrastructure.

They are keen to establish responsibility for surface water flooding, which causes a large proportion of the problems we face in Britain and to hold them accountable for it. They would like to take on the role of strategic overview for all flood risk management and to see it taken as seriously as terrorist threats.

This, to me, makes sense. Climate change and the associated dangers pose not just threats, but the absolute certainty that we will face serious problems. Even if we can't care about the future of our planet or about the plight of people in other continents, then we need to accept that we are going to have to face the associated problems.