It’s time to take climate change more seriously

Normally when I reach Friday it's time to reach for a warm ale and later a scotch to retreat, relax and reflect on the past week's endeavours.

But this time the only liquid I was after was a bottle of cold water and sun cream.

This was the heatwave we were all waiting for - and boy did Brighton do it in style.

Tens of thousands of people packed the beaches to soak up the rays, have a quick dip and inevitably still moan about how rubbish the British weather is.

"Makes a change from that rain", grumbled one group as they walked past me with a crate of beer at 10am on Wednesday.

Little did they know during the same week that Britain was hotter than Bali, Barcelona and Barbados, it was revealed world temperatures had reached record highs for the 14th month in a row.

The same week also saw the official dropping of climate change from the title of a UK government department.

At the same time, city politicians gathered to listen to pleas to do something about Brighton's most polluted street.

Sat in a traffic jam of people trying to get out of the city on a stonkingly humid evening, I decided this could not be a coincidence.

Here we had global, national and local instances that showed the UK was not taking the issue of pollution and the wider environment seriously enough.

A few of you out there may still harbour the head in the sand approach and pretend that climate change does not exist.

I do not want to go the way of the dodo though.

To them I say wake up. This is real. You can see it on your doorstep.

Take Brighton's most polluted street.

It isn't North Street or Western Road, or any other of the congested city centre streets.

Nope, it's Rottingdean high street, that narrow strip that goes up through the historic village which Kipling used to call home.

While lorries and many cars use the road as a cut through from the coast to Falmer, traffic levels are not the highest you will see in the city.

But the combination of narrow roads, lots of queues and tall properties close to the tarmac creates a canyon from which the Nitrous Oxide fumes cannot escape.

Instead they linger, meaning that those walking to local shops such as the greengrocer, newsagents or florists are just a few yards away from an exhaust chugging out toxic chemicals.

Those residents making their case to city councillors on Thursday made clear the impact - 200 people a year in Brighton and Hove have their lives shortened because of air pollution, many of them out in the surrounding villages

They don't tell you that on Location, Location, Location, do they?

While the city council agreed to look into ways to improve the situation, this is not something we can purely do from Brighton and Hove; this requires global and government leadership.

For years, all the talk by the top bods in suits at worldwide conferences has been halting the global rise to two per cent.

But now the men and women in white coats are saying that is no longer possible - instead we should be looking to cap it at three per cent.

The UK's response post-Brexit has been to scrap the Department of Energy and Climate Change and bump its responsibilities into a new clump involving business and industrial strategy.

Priorities, anyone? 

The good news comes in the shape of new climate change minister Nick Hurd.

Named one of the greenest MPs in Parliament, he is a real upgrade on his predecessor who reportedly asked on the first day if climate change was real.

Her name was Andrea Leadsom. But then I'm guessing she doesn't have much time to take in global affairs given all her motherly duties.

I digress.

The issue of pollution and climate change is not a joking matter; for many, especially those living in Rottingdean, it's sadly become a choking matter.

LIKE many I was amazed by the scenes above the white cliffs of Dover this weekend.

Queues and queues of cars, caravans and lorries sat in a row waiting up to 12 hours to get on a ferry to carry them to the continent.

The only movement was a news helicopter flying overhead and the occasional smashing of a car horn in frustration.

The reason for the delay is very obvious and understandable - the terror attacks in Nice meaning border security in France has been stepped up.

It seemed remarkable that only a week ago I too made the same trip across the channel without any bother or queues - by hopping on the ferry from Newhaven to Dieppe.

For those that want a stress-free start to their continental holidaying or simply a weekend away with a French flavour,I can heartily recommend it.