Last month was the driest July ever recorded in the country since records began in 1836 | Christopher Furlong/Getty Images
Adapting to an over-heated planet means very little unless it is accompanied by addressing the root causes of climate breakdown.
Will the succession of heatwaves across Europe and the UK compel governments of all complexions to take climate breakdown more seriously? While much of the news and public conversation this summer has focused on the tragic deaths of people caught in wildfires, floods, and storms, less attention has been paid to how heat waves kill people directly.
When the temperature rises to the point where the body can no longer cool itself, this is termed “uncompensable heat stress”, or UHS, and has long been known to have a disproportionate risk for the over sixties: The older you are, the less you can sweat; your heart works harder and your blood vessels are less able to widen, all adding to the risk of heat stress and early death. In an ageing and warming world, people older than sixty will increase in numbers to 2.1 billion by 2050 and are more likely to succumb to UHS.
Last year, one of the hottest ever on record in Britain, analysis from the UK Health Security Agency put excess deaths due to heat-related factors at 1,504. As of June this year, most of the country had already experienced four heatwaves, causing 2,877 excess deaths. Since then, there have been more heat waves with early indications of another in September, meaning a huge increase in heat-related deaths as compared to the previous year.
This rapid escalation in heat-related deaths is worth considering in a context where previous forecasts on the rate of climate change have proved to be too optimistic: Heavily populated Europe appears to be heating up much faster than the average, and research on the ability of forests to soak up greenhouse gases and help prevent climate breakdown has turned out to be less than expected.
Meanwhile, the naturally occurring El Niño/La Niña climate cycle is entering a “heating phase”, which is likely to further increase global heating and disruptive weather in the coming months. On Friday, the Met Office warned that this year’s El Nino is likely to be the most intense in recent memory. “We should be clear that this is an unprecedented event,” Prof Adam Scaife, head of long-range forecasting at the UK Met Office, told the BBC. “I have never seen an El Niño signal this intense in our forecasts.”
Sleep-walking towards disaster
Why are we sleepwalking towards disaster in this way when it simply does not make sense? Of the many reasons, three stand out; each requiring concerted governmental effort and leadership.
First, what needs to be done is a mammoth task. Not only will we have to radically decarbonise our economies, but we will need major changes in behaviour including a much less meat-based diet, far less use of air travel and far greater use of electricity generated from renewable resources, and a far more circular economy.
Second, the current economic system where neoliberal economics in its various forms is simply not fit for purpose. Crucially, when it comes to climate breakdown the need to act a decade or more ahead of impact is incompatible with free market ideology that believes that the market works best when it has the minimum of regulation. The kind of economic planning and management that the risk of climate breakdown requires is anathema to the very idea of a free market.
Moreover, this is in addition to the runaway wealth that the current free market system favours. So endemic to the system is the accumulation of wealth and political power in the hands of an elite few, that any attempt at an environmentally sustainable economy “for the many, not the few” will be strongly resisted by the few.
Finally, there are the well-resourced right-wing think tanks and lobbies determined to maintain the status quo. The Atlas Foundation alone “provides training, networking, and grants for libertarian, free-market and conservative groups around the world” working with nearly 800 groups in over a hundred countries.
There is already support in the UK and many other countries for adapting to a warmer world, including much better funded emergency services, improved housing and better ventilation, but a core problem remains.
Adaption currently envisaged means very little unless it is accompanied by addressing the root causes of climate breakdown, especially the burning of fossil carbon in the form of coal, oil or gas. All that adaptation does is give us a few extra years before we are overwhelmed by even higher temperatures and wilder weather, and that goes on, and on, with far more of the world becoming uninhabitable.
The heat excesses of the past year will have killed many tens of thousands of people across the world, especially among the poorest. It is vital to shift the political mood enough to truly accelerate the necessary changes. There is a small chance that further devastation caused by El Nino might focus minds on the reality of climate breakdown, but the likes of Trump and most of the global oligarchy will do all they can to prevent that.
Donald Trump urges you to be a Climate Science denier like him. He says that he makes millions and millions for destroying the planet, Burn, Baby, Burn and Flood, Baby, Flood.Experienced climbers scale a rock face near the historic Dumbarton castle in Glasgow, releasing a banner that reads “Climate on a Cliff Edge.” One activist, dressed as a globe, symbolically looms near the edge, while another plays the bagpipes on the shores below. | Photo courtesy of Extinction Rebellion and Mark RichardsGreenpeace activists display a billboard during a protest outside Shell headquarters on July 27, 2023 in London. (Photo: Handout/Chris J. Ratcliffe for Greenpeace via Getty Images)
dizzy: UK government’s inaction and support of climate-destroying datacentres suggests that Burnham & Co are likely to permit the Rosebank and Jackdaw North Sea oil and gas fields further destroying the planet.
Zack Polanski speaking at a separate festival, the Edinburgh Fringe, this month. Photo: Rich Dyson/Alamy Live News
Green leader throws weight behind Media Sovereignty Act campaign to stop press barons “literally buying democracy”
Green leader Zack Polanski has backed a campaign for a fundamental overhaul of Britain’s media ownership, in order to prevent billionaires buying newspapers in order to “literally buy democracy”.
Polanski threw his weight behind the ‘Media Sovereignty Act’ campaign in a speech at Green Gathering festival in Chepstow (Wales) earlier this month.
The petition promoted by the Green Party of England & Wales leader calls on the Government to “pass [a] law to ban foreign and offshore ownership of UK media” and enact a social-media levy to “distribute media ownership across society & fund independent, local and cooperative-owned media”.
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Such an act would mark the biggest shake-up of media law in generations – and would conceivably force sell-offs of most national newspapers.
That includes the (now German-owned) Telegraph, the Mail group (owned by non-dom Lord Rothermere and structured through offshore trusts), as well as the Independent which is part-owned by Saudis, local news giant Newsquest (owned by the US holding company USA Today Co) and the Financial Times (owned by Japan’s Nikkei).
It is not clear if it would apply to listed firms which have some foreign shareholders such as Mirror and Express publisher Reach PLC, part-owned by Swiss firm Lombard Odier Asset Management and Boston-based Fidelity.
Polanski told a panel at the festival: “Billionaires should not be able to have a monopoly on our free press.”
He criticised the “billionaire media” repeatedly, adding that Britain needed “a free press for a free country”.
Orcas discuss Donald Trump and the killer apes’ concept of democracy. Front Orca warns that Trump is crashing his country’s economy and that everything he does he does for the fantastically wealthy.
Green party leader Zack Polanski (Green Party of England and Wales). Image: Bristol Green Party Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.
As the consultation on Jackdaw, a major North sea oil and gas project ends, the Green Party leader calls out Prime Minister Burnham’s ‘weasel words’ on approval of more North Sea drilling and says it is a clear breach of Labour’s manifesto pledge.
Last week, the Green leader called an emergency press conference to urge Andy Burnham to act, and was joined by a firefighter, a GP and an ex soldier, all outlining the devastating impact the climate crisis is having in their areas of public service. Sky News have reported that the Government has rejected his call for COBR to be reconvened, with the Government ‘insisting supply chains are resilient’.
Zack Polanski said,
“We are now facing the fifth heatwave in months following the recent deaths of 3,000 people in our country from extreme weather conditions.”
“This is the greatest crisis this country has faced since the Second World War and to complacently dismiss the demands for immediate action by saying everything is under control is gross negligence, blatantly untrue and misses the severity of the crisis”
“Only days after dedicated public servants talked about the need for urgent action, backed up by indisputable science, to secure our food supplies and the health of the most vulnerable, the Labour government says it’s all in hand, and supply chains are resilient.”
On the ending of the consultation for Jackdaw, Zack Polanski says,
“In the midst of a heatwave fuelled by the climate crisis, the science is clear that more North Sea drilling would be a dereliction of duty by Labour. Whatever weasel words are used on drilling within new or existing licences, one of the new Prime Minister’s first significant decisions would be to break Labour’s manifesto pledge.
“In their own analysis, Jackdaw’s owners have themselves said that only 27 direct full time jobs would be created if given the go ahead.
“This has nothing to do with boosting the economy for the people of this country and far more to do with boosting obscene profits for fossil fuel companies and their shareholders. I made clear in my press conference last week, that’s why this needs to be treated for the serious crisis it is, with financial support for homes to keep cool and for fossil fuel giants to pay the costs of extreme weather adaptation.”
Donald Trump urges you to be a Climate Science denier like him. He says that he makes millions and millions for destroying the planet, Burn, Baby, Burn and Flood, Baby, Flood.Nigel Farage urges you to ignore facts and reality and be a climate science denier like him and his Deputy Richard Tice. He says that Reform UK has received £Millions and £Millions from the fossil fuel industry to promote climate denial and destroy the planet.Elon Musk urges you to be a Fascist like him, says that you can ignore facts and reality then.
Prime Minister Andy Burnham will chair a meeting of the government’s emergency Cobra committee on Wednesday to discuss the UK’s response to the extreme heat, as temperatures are set to soar again.
A No 10 spokesperson said the government understood firefighters, farmers and NHS staff were all facing challenges connected to the weather.
This week’s latest heatwave comes as more areas in England were placed under drought status on Monday and firefighters continue to battle a significant wildfire in the New Forest in Hampshire.
The Met Office has issued a rare amber extreme heat warning, external for Thursday, with temperatures peaking in the mid-to-high 30s across the Midlands and south-east of England, and a high of 38C possible
It comes as the record for the number of days reaching 30C in any year in the UK has been broken, according to the Met Office, with Sunday the 35th day of the year so far.
‘My fear is that – without urgent action – the worst is still to come’: Sadiq Khan has said climate fears must be addressed. Photograph: Yui Mok/PA
London mayor points to ‘terrifying scenes’ this summer amid speculation Burnham may back Jackdaw and Rosebank projects
Sadiq Khan has called on the government to commit to revamped climate action and to reduce the UK’s reliance on oil and gas, as the UK endures a summer of drought, wildfires and heatwaves.
Writing in the Guardian, the mayor of London said that Andy Burnham’s administration must reaffirm its commitment to net zero and make clear it will continue to reduce the UK’s reliance on oil and gas “to get Britain back on track.”
There is growing concern among Labour MPs and climate experts that the new prime minister may support renewed drilling for oil and gas in the North Sea; since arriving in No 10, Burnham has remained largely tight-lipped on climate and environmental concerns despite speaking out about them during his time as mayor of Greater Manchester.
Last month, Burnham said he would be “pragmatic” about oil and gas and that decisions on new drilling would be made “in due course”. “The question isn’t whether Britain will still be using oil and gas, the question is where does it come from,” he said.
Nigel Farage urges you to ignore facts and reality and be a climate science denier like him and his Deputy Richard Tice. He says that Reform UK has received £Millions and £Millions from the fossil fuel industry to promote climate denial and destroy the planet.Donald Trump urges you to be a Climate Science denier like him. He says that he makes millions and millions for destroying the planet, Burn, Baby, Burn and Flood, Baby, Flood.Power-mad orange gasbag Donald Trump says Burn, Baby, Burn.
At a press conference today, Zack Polanski delivered a ‘reality check’ to the Prime Minister as he sounded the alarm on the emergency of extreme heat and outlined three immediate actions he would take to tackle the crisis.
After highlighting the multiple threats we face – to our safety, our food and water supply, and our way of life – Zack called for action to keep people cool and safe, taxes on oil and gas giants to fund our fire services, and public ownership of water to end the failed experiment of privatisation.
Zack was joined on stage by an ex-soldier and engineer, a doctor, and a firefighter, who described the consequences of extreme weather they had seen in their work – as well as broadcaster and environmental campaigner Chris Packham who warned of the present and future risks of the climate crisis.
“Trees reduced to charcoal”
Zack started his press conference with a vivid description of the consequences of the extreme heat that has hit the UK this year.
The day before he had witnessed the aftermath of the devastation caused by a wildfire in Oxfordshire.
“Trees reduced to charcoal. Cars turned to burnt out wrecks. The smell of smoke still lingering in the air, on the site of what was once a thriving local business – now reduced to ash.
“Wildfires. Literal scorched earth. And that looming sense that this is only the beginning.
“These days feel exceptional, but what we’re living through right now are likely some of the least extreme summer temperatures we’ll experience in our lifetimes.”
This is what climate failure looks like. Nature, homes and livelihoods are being destroyed. The Government must act now.
The week before, while a wildfire the size of two hundred football pitches was raging across Suffolk, Zack had called on the Prime Minister to urgently call a COBRA meeting to address the crisis.
Six days later, and with another heat alert having just ended, where is the Government response? There has been no COBRA meeting, no emergency briefing, no new plan.
And so Zack stepped up to challenge the Prime Minister to act.
“We are facing the biggest threat to this country since the Second World War”
His challenge to the PM started with a stark reality check: “We are facing the biggest threat to this country since the Second World War.”
“Extreme weather is now the new normal – and without action, the impact on the people of this country will be unimaginably grave.”
And Zack broke down exactly what that impact will be.
First, the threat to our safety.
The dangers of extreme heat to our health are very real – especially for older people and those with pre-existing conditions – forcing people to stay indoors for days on end, to try to wait out the heat.
Zack Polanski delivers ‘reality check’ to Burnham over ‘biggest crisis since WWII’ after summer of extreme heat
As Zack explained, “Almost three thousand people have died from the effects of extreme heat this summer.”
Those “whose bodies were under such intense strain in trying to stay cool that their hearts or kidneys could no longer cope.”
And then there are the fires – forcing hundreds to evacuate their homes, “while many thousands more wait anxiously with flames on the horizon and smoke in their lungs.”
And Zack pointed to Europe as a warning of how bad things can get.
“Hundreds of thousands evacuated. Half a million acres burnt.
“The sheer scale of the devastation is hard to comprehend. But we need to look it in the face – because this is only a taster of what’s to come if we don’t act now.”
Decimated crops, leaking pipes, and no new reservoirs since 1992
After the danger to our physical safety, the second threat Zack identified concerned the basis of any society: our food and water supply.
Half of England is currently experiencing serious drought, and eight of our water reservoirs are at risk of running dry.
“The threat is so severe”, Zack said, “that the UK’s national risk register warns that if we had three years of exceptionally dry weather like this, we could face water rationing.”
And what of the private water companies?
The private water companies that haven’t built a single new reservoir since 1992.
Well, they are losing nearly three billion litres of water a day from leaky pipes – or as Zack put it “five times more than a nationwide hosepipe ban would save”.
Our farmers and growers, meanwhile, are on the frontlines of climate breakdown – facing in turn the extreme rainfall and flooding of recent winters, and the extreme heat and drought of our summers.
Zack noted that despite farmers working through the nights to avoid the heat, food production has been hit by this chaotic combo of flooding and drought, and food prices are set to rise as a result.
“A threat to our way of life”
The third threat Zack named was far-reaching: the threat to our way of life.
“Parents unable to take their children to the playground because the slides are so hot it could burn their skin off. Temperatures so high they keep us inside for days for the sake of our health. Cities feeling like ghost towns. Parks turned into deserts.”
As climate change progresses – bringing more frequent, more damaging extreme weather – the way each of us lives our life will be more severely impacted.
Zack Polanski holds a press conference to deliver an urgent message to Prime Minister Andy Burnham. (Photo: Aldo Ciarrocchi)
And we don’t have to look far to see what may face us in the years ahead.
Zack pointed to the “apocalyptic” scenes of “Wildfires. Droughts. Deadly floods.” coming out of Europe, noting that the continent “is heating at twice the rate of the rest of the world.”
It is there for all of us to see.
And yet the response from the Government, and most of the media, has been to look the other way.
In Zack’s words: “It’s an astonishing dereliction of duty from those whose first responsibility is to keep us safe.”
Zack’s demands for action: cool spaces, water in public hands, and taxing oil and gas giants to fund fire services
The need for action is urgent.
And Zack set out immediate steps the Prime Minister could take “to protect people right now and keep us safe from what we know is coming down the track.”
“We need to keep people safe from extreme temperatures. That means a free, accessible cool space in every local area. And financial support for households to heatproof their home.”
Secondly, Zack called for a robust wildfire prevention strategy – and a fire service with the resources it needs to tackle blazes when they come.
“This should be funded,” Zack said, “by taxing the fossil fuel giants who are profiting from fuelling these infernos.”
And thirdly Zack called for public ownership of our water.
“To secure our water supply, prevent droughts and protect our food system we need to bring water back into public hands.”
“Every penny households pay for their water needs to go back into strengthening our infrastructure, building new reservoirs, and protecting us from the droughts of the future.”
Extreme weather is now the new normal.The Prime Minister must act like this is the emergency it is.
Zack’s message to the PM: “There can be no new drilling for oil and gas”
Before handing the microphone over to the assembled experts, Zack finished with a powerful message direct to the Prime Minister.
“If we are to secure a liveable future for our children and grandchildren, there can be no new drilling for oil and gas. On this, the science is crystal clear.
“As politicians, we have a moral responsibility to do what’s right for the people we serve, even when it’s not politically convenient.
“And I know that whatever our differences, we both care deeply about the people of this country – and the future of our world.
“So when the time comes, I hope you will have the courage to be truthful, be brave – and hold firm to your party’s commitment to no new oil and gas drilling in the north sea – including both Rosebank and Jackdaw.
“Some will say we can’t afford to make these changes. These last few weeks are showing we can’t afford not to.”
“A dereliction of duty”: four expert voices on extreme heat
Zack was followed by four speakers with unique expertise on the extreme heat emergency.
First up was Carl Benfield, a former soldier and engineer, who since leaving the military has turned his engineering expertise to the challenges posed by climate breakdown.
His view? “Climate change is the single greatest threat to human security that we face.”
And his conclusion on successive governments’ failure to prioritise this threat was damning: “A government’s first duty is to keep its citizens safe. Ignoring extreme heat and raging fires isn’t just complacency, it’s a dereliction of duty.”
He was clear about what’s required: “We need an immediate COBRA-level response. We need climate change reinstated at the top of our defence and security agenda. And we need the bold leadership of Zack Polanski for our nation.”
"Ignoring extreme heat and raging fires isn't just complacency. It's a dereliction of duty."Experts warn the climate crisis is already costing lives and urgent action from the Government is needed.
Next to speak was London firefighter James Rodgers.
His powerful testimony of a worker on the frontlines of extreme heat highlighted the immediacy of the crisis, and how rapidly the conditions in which firefighters work are changing due to extreme heat.
“When people talk about climate change, they often talk about the year 2050. I’m a firefighter and I want to talk about now.”
“Because for firefighters, climate change isn’t a prediction. It’s a shift we are already working.
“Climate change is the fire call to multiple back gardens alight, children’s clothing burning on the washing line.
“Climate change is the acrid smell as you affect entry into a flat because someone has succumbed to heat stroke and hasn’t been checked on in weeks. Climate change is the sound of people in floods of tears when they are stuck in a lift 20 floors up in 30 degree heat.
“Climate change is the taste of dust in your dry mouth, watching a fire sweep uncontrollably across a park you used to play football in as a child in your summer holidays. Climate change is this becoming a day to day reality. ”
Dr Veena Aggarwal speaks at the press conference on the emergency of extreme heat. (Photo: Aldo Ciarrocchi)
Next was Dr Veena Aggarwal, a GP in Bristol and the Climate and Sustainability Co-Lead and Clinical Adviser at the Royal College of GPs.
She emphasised the growing danger to health, and – as with the fire services – the extreme pressure placed on health services by the heat:
“As a GP, I’ve been seeing firsthand the health impact of the recent heat waves.
“Ambulances are so stretched we couldn’t get an ambulance for a patient with sepsis or another one with very low oxygen levels, because the ambulance service was so completely overwhelmed.
“The London Ambulance Service saw its busiest ever day during the heatwave in June, on 26th June. That’s even busier than the days at the height of the Covid pandemic emergency.
“We’re seeing people having more asthma attacks; having flares up of their chronic lung disease so extreme they need to be in hospital; more people having heart attacks, strokes; or having falls and collapsing due to the heat, especially those who are frail and more vulnerable.”
Dr Aggarwal also highlighted the impact of the heat on staff and patients in NHS buildings, the human cost of the heat waves, and the need for immediate action.
“An extra almost 3000 deaths occurred within just one week in June during the heatwaves. That’s almost double what was recorded in that season in 2025. In Europe those deaths are 14,000 in that same period.
“We need to act now. The climate crisis is a health crisis.”
Chris Packham speaks at the press conference on the emergency of extreme heat. (Photo: Aldo Ciarrocchi)
The final speaker was broadcaster and nature campaigner Chris Packham.
Chris was excoriating in his appraisal of the Government and media’s response to the climate crisis.
Citing the same death figures as Dr Aggarwal, he said “If these deaths had been the result of terrorism or a pandemic, the Government would have cancelled its summer holiday.
“There would have been COBRA meetings, and there would have been public information campaigns the likes of which we saw during Covid, designed to protect us in this time of crisis.”
“And yet what do we get?
“We get rumours of possibly more drilling for oil and gas, and we get articles in the Telegraph suggesting we ought to adapt to a Mediterranean climate…
“If that isn’t reckless and irresponsible, I don’t know what is.”
