Our climate altering activities are hurtling us towards the fictional future of a hot, melting world
There’s a scene in the newly-restored science fiction classic The Day the Earth Caught Fire (premiered last week in the summer open air cinema at the British Museum) when The Daily Express’s fictional, bull-nosed science reporter, Bill Maguire, barks at a newsroom junior to fetch him information on the melting points of various substances. It’s to illustrate a spread in the paper which is investigating how massive nuclear tests have shifted the planet on its axis, causing chaotic weather and a heat wave to slowly marinate London.
A real 2011 report on adapting to climate change by a group within the Committee on Climate Change looked at the impact of different scenarios for global warming on London’s water supply. The gap between water supply and demand in London is growing regardless. The report shows planned options for compulsory meters, a new reservoir at Abingdon, transferring water at Longdon Marsh and other measures. But in the worst case scenario (and actual global greenhouse gas emissions are indeed jumping off the worst case scenarios), taking account of all the suggested measures, a presentation based on the report notes that, a “combination of the three adaptation pathways do not address the extreme deficit” of water supply.
It might help us control our overpopulation problem.