Climate change – what’s the problem?

Climate Change Officer Simon Chubb examines the likely effects of climate change on Cambridge, and what we can do about it.

Cast your mind forward to the summer of 2050. What can we expect Cambridge to be like? Forty years isn’t such a long time, but based on current patterns of energy use we can expect summer temperatures to be up to 5 degrees hotter. You may think that sounds good – after all, we’re always complaining about the English weather. But this temperature increase would mean that heat waves – like the one in 2003 that claimed 35,000 lives across Europe – could become commonplace. It would also bring drought – summer rainfall could more than halve, so we can look forward to the return of hosepipe bans.

What makes a sustainable loo?

Some of Cambridge’s public toilets have won awards for their design – but there’s more to them than meets the eye, as Bob Kerry explains

Cambridge Environment Festival 2008

Cambridge’s 19th annual Environment Festival will run from Monday May 26 – Sunday June 8 this year. There are all kinds of events happening, and most of them are free, so why not go along to one of the ones listed below?

To find out more about these events, plus the full listing of events for the festival and how to take part, visit www.cambridge.gov.uk/environmentfestival2008