What season is this again?

Being British, I thought I'd mention the weather, hasn't it been mental this week! It's June, right? Nearly July? The SUMMER? I heard a BBC weatherman talking about the Yorkshire floods yesterday, saying that he can't prove directly that they are due to global warming or climate change, but he knows for certain that on about a monthly basis, he is using the word "record" about the weather, whether it be in the UK or overseas, and whether it be about rain, droughts, heat, cold or otherwise.

So here are a few facts about global warming.

- The 10 warmest years on record have occurred in the last 14 years.
- Temperature records go back to the late 19th Century and show that the global average temperature increased by about 0.8C 1880.
- The rate of warming is increasing. The 20th century's last two decades were the hottest in 400 years and possibly the warmest for several millennia, according to a number of climate studies.
- Since the records began in the 19th Century sea levels have risen 10-20cm - thought to be caused mainly by the expansion of warming oceans.
- Hurricane Katrina passed over the warmed ocean and this caused it to go from a class 1 hurricane to a when it left Florida, and reached class 5 at its peak.
- Warming oceans means Arctic ice is rapidly disappearing, and the region may have its first completely ice-free summer by 2040 or earlier. Polar bears and indigenous cultures are already suffering from the sea-ice loss.
- Coral reefs, which are highly sensitive to small changes in water temperature, suffered the worst bleaching—or die-off in response to stress—ever recorded in 1998, with some areas seeing bleach rates of 70 percent.
- It's estimated that sea levels will have risen by at least half a metre by 2050, even this small amount would put parts of East Anglia under water, not just trimming the coast a touch but putting as many as hundreds of square miles under water.

These facts are from a number of sources, mostly National Geographic and the BBC.

Obviously one household can't fix this, it's down to governments and big businesses to do something, but we can do our bit. We can:
-recycle
-switch to energy efficient light bulbs
-drop our thermostats by one or two degrees, and use programmable thermostats to programme central heating to come on when you really need it, and not, say, 2 hours before you get home from work
-make sure your pipes, tanks etc. are insulated properly
-shower more instead of bathing
-use clothes lines instead of tumble driers when possible
-turn off and unplug electrical items when not using them
-avoid buying heavily packaged food (admittedly this might be difficult if you shop at super markets like Morrison's!)
-buy at least some of your food at markets instead of supermarkets
-use public transport more
-car share.

OK, lecture over, now go out and enjoy the rain/sun/wind/drought (delete as applicable)