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Residents warm to tackling climate change?

From the Bridgwater Mercury, first published Friday 8th Jun 2007.

BRIDGWATER residents are being urged to warm to the idea of tackling climate change as part of a county council-led campaign launched last week.

Over the next ten months, the Rising to the Challenge initiative will be focused on putting the climate change issue at the top of everyone's agenda.

Roadshows, school lessons and business seminars will be held across the county, while an advertising campaign is also hoped to heat the debate.

Pupils from Milverton Primary School in Taunton, the first primary school in Somerset to be awarded Eco School status, officially launched the campaign - one of 82 projects nationally funded by Defra's Climate Change Fund - last Tuesday (June 5).

Somerset County Council's Ruth Baker, who is co-ordinating the campaign, said: "Climate change is an urgent issue that will affect everyone, including us here in Somerset, but by working together and making informed choices, we can all help reduce those impacts."

Areas under perceived threat from climate change include the famous Sweet Track and Glastonbury Lake village on the Somerset Moors, which could be affected by floods or large stays of drought.

Richard Brunning, the council's levels and moors archaeologist, warns that climate change could have a devastating impact on the remains.

"The predictions are that there will be less rain in the summer months, and that is when the archaeological record is most at risk," he said.

"The archaeological record is fragile and sites like the Sweet Track and Lake Village are irreplaceable and unique.

"Once they are lost they are lost forever, and that is another good reason to do what we can to stop climate change."

A climate change café roadshow, which is supported by partner organisations providing advice to the public on climate change and how to reduce your carbon footprint, will visit Bridgwater town centre on Friday, August 17, from 10am to 5pm.

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