this post was submitted on 30 Jul 2026
1 points (100.0% liked)

UK Nature and Environment

922 readers
2 users here now

General Instance Rules:

Community Specific Rules:

Note: Our temporary logo is from The Wildlife Trusts. We are not officially associated with them.

Our current banner is a shot of Walberswick marshes, Suffolk by GreyShuck.

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

Half of England has been declared officially in drought, as farmers warn the extreme conditions and record-breaking heatwaves are making it “harder, riskier and more costly” to produce food.

The Environment Agency says seven regions across central, eastern, and southern England are in drought after what is thought to be the driest July on record combined with soaring temperatures.

Agency bosses warned of lasting effects of the absence of rain on the environment, wildlife and the economy, while experts said farming was becoming increasingly precarious.

top 13 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] DrCake@lemmy.world 0 points 1 month ago

But see we haven’t been able to act too fast on climate change because it would cost too much

[–] yakko@feddit.uk 0 points 1 month ago (1 children)

If only there was some big group of countries we could import cheaper produce from. That'd be grand.

[–] nodiratime@lemmy.world 0 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

Given that other countries today have similar breadbasket failure prospects, maybe you should look into the history of the UK for examples of how grand your proposal is, like with India and Ireland,.

[–] yakko@feddit.uk 0 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I'm making the point that pre-Brexit UK would have been better able to cope, don't mistake this for a chance to be insufferable.

[–] ohulancutash@feddit.uk 0 points 1 month ago (1 children)

You mean the group of countries having an even worse season than Britain?

[–] yakko@feddit.uk 0 points 1 month ago (1 children)

They have more arable land per capita, so maybe. Look, are either of us experts or is this conversation going to suck?

[–] ohulancutash@feddit.uk 0 points 1 month ago

Just in the June heatwaves, EU+UK lost 9m tons of grain crop, with 7m of that in France, Hungary and Spain. This will be the worst harvest in nearly a decade.

[–] hanrahan@slrpnk.net 0 points 1 month ago (1 children)

and people still support climate deniers like Reform

[–] fizzle@quokk.au 0 points 1 month ago (2 children)

I think the current strategy is "perhaps climate is changing but it's not caused by humans", rather than outright denial.

[–] tetris11@feddit.uk 0 points 1 month ago (1 children)

oh my god yes, hearing this a lot

[–] fizzle@quokk.au 0 points 1 month ago

It's an established playbook.

  • climate change isn't happening
  • there's no consensus in the data
  • climate is changing due to natural processes <-- we are here
  • things are so bad, now is not the time to upset industry <-- due when we have many millions of climate refugees
  • this is the new normal <-- when we have a decade of 2 degrees average increase in temp
[–] scratchee@feddit.uk 0 points 1 month ago

Or the old “well of course we need to reduce emissions but it’s a matter of individual responsibility, anything else might hurt the economy so much that I’d have no choice but to vote against the future of humanity. Don’t make me do it, if you hurt my profits even slightly I will!”

[–] PalmTreeIsBestTree@lemmy.world 0 points 1 month ago

England be looking more like South Texas lately