The Outer Hebrides past and future are at risk from the effects of climate change.
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There is no question that humans impact the physical environment of our planet. Every aspect of our lives from where were live, how we commute, what we consume to what we wear. Our choices influence planet health. Th effects of climate change are not globally uniform and they affects some regions more than others. Some of the most extreme examples can be seen in the Pacific Ocean. The Pacific Ocean covers nearly one third of the worlds surface. Tiny islands are speckled throughout. Here, the effects of climate change are causing land loss at extreme rates where cultures are being forced to go online while the people have to move to other locations for survival.
When we look at the Outer Hebrides on a map, we are reminded how exposed our island chain is to the mighty forces of the oceans and wind. |
OVERPOPULATION
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In 1900, the world population was at 1,600,000,000 or 1.6 billion humans. Just over one hundred years later the world population is over 8,000,000,000 or 8 billion humans (Check out the real-time counter here). World population is expected to reach over 10,000,000 or 10 billion humans by 2086. This unbelievable rise in population is one of the ways we impact the planet and trigger climate change. Other factors include pollution, burning of fossil fuels and biogas releases, and deforestation. This results in changes in soil chemistry, sea level rises, changes to the hydrological cycles, poor air quality, and more frequent extreme storm events.
Similarly, the increase in population put a demand on resources. This can lead to over fishing (depleting our marine environment), increased farming (depleting forests and natural environments by grazing, burning, spraying insecticides and herbicides, all of which will reduce biodiversity in our natural environments) spread of infections and disease and an increased likelihood of wars due to demand over resources. |
ANTHROPOGENIC POLLUTION
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A study from 2022 estimates 353 million tonnes of plastic waste is produced annually. Of this 353 million, over a third of this waste is incorrectly managed and results in the littering and pollution of the land, rivers, coasts and oceans. And to think, this is only one form of pollution!
Anthropogenic pollution can pollute the land, the air and water in many diverse forms. Marine litter is dominated by plastic due to its durability and the large volume produced. These plastics can breakdown overtime and form micro and nano plastics. These plastics can easily be ingested and inhaled from the environment and from the food we eat and drink. On the land, some plastics can persist over 1000 years! Maybe next time you go shopping you will ask yourself, is there a way to cutback on plastics and if so, realising you're playing a small part in the reduction of plastics waste generation. |
CHANGES IN THE CLIMATE
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The United Kingdom Met Office provides an insight into the changes to the climate over the previous 60 years. This can be explored further here. To the left we can see the change in mean temperature annual average, mean maximum temperature annual average and days of rain ≥ 10 mm annual average between the years of 1961 - 1990 and 1991 - 2020. What we see time an time again is the increase in temperature and rainfall across the UK. Below we see the increase in the average temperature in both Barra and South Uist between the years of 1961 - 1990 to 1991 - 2020.
We can trend the climate data in the Outer Hebrides for over 40 year here. What the data tells us is the mean yearly temperature has been gradually increasing. While we see the trend for rainfall during this time remaining largely level. This is in contrast to other locations in the UK that can be seen |
