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Lazing on a sunny afternoon. The Meadows, Edinburgh. <\/p>\nWe\u2019ve just had a week of gloriously sunny weather. <\/p>\n
On Wednesday, the Deeside town of Aboyne recorded a temperature of 24.4C, making it the hottest day of the year so far.\u00a0 Of course, it didn\u2019t last and Thursday was decidedly cooler.\u00a0 That\u2019s the trouble with climate change, it\u2019s changeable, which makes us doubt it\u2019s happening at all, or at least that we don\u2019t need to do much about it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But science is relentless. This week the Independent Committee on Climate Change declared that our preparations for the effects of droughts and floods and storms was \u201ctoo slow, or stalled, or heading in the wrong direction.\u201d\u00a0 We\u2019ve fallen into a slough of despair on climate, rowing back on our commitments to cut carbon emissions. It\u2019s all too difficult. <\/p>\n
Lazing on a sunny afternoon. The Meadows, Edinburgh. <\/p>\n
The Scottish Government has given up its annual target on cutting greenhouse gases. It followed England in postponing the switch to electric cars and household boilers. It\u2019s cut its tree-planting programme. It\u2019s dropped its \u201cpresumption\u201d against new oil and gas developments. An opinion poll among SNP voters has found that 52 per cent would like to see the party drop its opposition to nuclear power, such is the growing doubt about renewables.<\/p>\n
Even conservation groups are losing heart in the switch to wind and wave. This week five of them, including the RSPB and The National Trust, have spoken out against plans for a large wind-farm (307 turbines) off the Berwickshire coast. They say thousands of seabirds would be killed by flying into the turning blades.<\/p>\n
Yet the evidence is mounting that climate change is coming to Scotland. Last month\u2019s wild fire on the Island of Arran destroyed 15,000 newly planted trees, just one of over 100 wild fires reported to the fire service. This week, we\u2019ve had unusually warm spring weather and we\u2019ve had mosquitos found as far north as Shetland for the first time.<\/p>\n
You would think that climate fear may have persuaded us that the ending of oil refining at Grangemouth this week was a welcome step along the \u201ctransition\u201d \u00a0from fossil fuels to renewables. You would think that both governments would be ready with a plan to convert the site into the promised \u201crenewables hub\u201d. But so far Project Willow has only outlined nine possible ideas \u2013 including hydrogen production, and clean aviation fuel \u2013 and they\u2019ve had tentative inquiries from only 66 firms. \u00a0None of these will be ready for the 400 workers who will be laid off over the next year. Both governments, of course, are blaming each other.<\/p>\n
Last month, I thought the culture war between sex and gender was over with the ruling from the Supreme Court that sex meant biological sex not chosen gender.\u00a0 Since then though, we\u2019ve had interim guidance from the Equality Commission that trans-women should not be allowed into female toilets and changing rooms, causing schools, hospitals, sports clubs, restaurants etc to wonder how they should provide for trans-women.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Green MSP Maggie Chapman landed herself in trouble when she hit back at The Supreme Court, accusing it of \u201cbigotry, prejudice and hatred.\u201d She was very nearly expelled from the parliament\u2019s equalities committee but was saved by the three SNP members.<\/p>\n
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Maggie Chapman in the centre supporting fellow MSP Mark Ruskell in his campaign to end greyhound racing<\/p>\n
The battle of the sexes took a delightful turn when it was announced that the Glenurquhart Highland Games this summer will stage \u201cthe first ever heavy events\u201d for women, including throwing the weight, hammer and shot and tossing the caber.\u00a0 The Royal Highland Games Association may be disputing that \u201cfirst ever\u201d claim, since it ran women\u2019s heavy events at Airth last summer. But clearly the traditional belief that only a biological man can toss a caber is being overtaken by events.<\/p>\n
A couple of woman from England, Miriam Payne and Jess Rowe, have just set out to row across the Pacific Ocean from Peru to Australia.\u00a0 But I wonder if it\u2019s bigoted or prejudiced to wonder if they will be overtaken by three brothers from Edinburgh who have embarked on the same journey. Ewan, Jamie and Lachlan Maclean hope to complete the voyage in 120 days, arriving in Sydney at the beginning of August.\u00a0 Both teams are completely unsupported, carrying their own supplies and catching what they can on the way, including rain-water.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Maclean brothers are raising funds for clean water projects in Madagascar, an island often devastated by droughts and floods. There is no doubt in countries like Madagascar that climate change is under way and that we in the west should be doing more about it. \u00a0<\/p>\n
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Lachlan, Ewan and Jamie Maclean![\"image_pdf\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/1746347833_400_pdf.png\" "\\"View")
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