Tuxford: Pupils get a warning on climate change

Sixth Form students at Tuxford school were given a stark warning about the effect of global warming on the East Coast of the UK during a talk by ecological economist and former university lecturer Brian Davey.

Mr Davey showed the 90-strong audience a map of changed coastlines after sea level rise caused by climate change.

On the map the city of Hull, the town of Boston, the area between Selby, Goole and Gainsborough and holiday resorts like Skegness and Mablethorpe had all disappeared beneath the water

“I am convinced that you will see this happen in your lifetime, if we continue on our current path of burning coal, petrol, diesel and shale gas across the world” he said. This had been borne out by a recent report by the United Nations, using long-term research of over 2000 climate scientists.

Mr Davey’s hour-long talk, with detailed slides, was arranged by the Head of Year, Mr Mick Keeling.

Mr Davey said the message of his map was that we should not be opening up new sources of fossil fuel and the Government’s claim that shale gas obtained by fracking would be a lower carbon source that would reducing carbon emissions was false.

“It is not true, because research has shown that gas fields leak a great deal of methane, which is a more powerful greenhouse gas than CO2, and also because gas is being used in addition to coal,” he said.

He added that he felt fracking was a distraction, preventing urgent action needed immediately to develop renewables and low carbon lifestyles.

Mr Davey went on to say that if we do not leave 75 per cent of fossil fuels in the earth now, the temperature rise that will occur by using them will be ‘catastrophic’.

He stated that already the Arctic ice was melting at a great rate and releasing more methane from the Arctic tundra.

The sixth formers were told that at that rate, they could well see the disappearance of great swathes of the currently occupied east coast of the UK by the time they were 50 to 60 years old.