odd plant behaviour: climate change...

Reading talk of odd/early flowering times on some boards I frequent has made me ponder something, and I wanted to ask you guys:

Since 'global warming' and 'climate change' have been becoming buzzwords more and more, have you noticed increased odd or different behaviour within your garden?

In England (where I am anyway), any remotely strange weather occurrence happens and everyone puts it down to climate change etc. Just wondered what the gardeners here thought about this?

 

Just what I've said before - 'summer' seems to have shifted slightly earlier to May and June. The last few years have seen glorious weather in those months, followed by less than summer-like weather in July and August.

 

I think the problm Hartley is that we are talking of very small changes in temperature. A global warming of 2C is not that big, and will likely be masked by much larger changes in temperature that occur from year to year as part of the normal weather cycles. Consequently I think it will be difficult for us as individuals to seperate climate change from random changes.

You really have to resort to statistics to see the effects. Having said that, a real global change as small as 2C can have a huge impact on the earth as a whole. It can make the wheat belt in Russia or other countries move some 200 or miles or more to the north. I read the figure once - but can't find the source. I can't remember if it is 200 or even 500 miles. This means huge areas will no longer be able to grow their staple crops, but that other areas will. The upset will be huge.

No one can be ever be sure about climate change but I think the graph below is one of the most sobering, and is difficult to explain away as normal variation. The graph shows the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere over the last few hundred thousand years. We know that carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas, but because of the size of the earth, it could well be that the effect from the recent rise in CO2 levels may not fully manifest itself for another 100 years or more.

 

I've definitely seen lots of odd behaviour. It's difficult to sum up - things flowering at increasingly odd times, spring bulbs emerging in Autumn, really early arrival of Spring. Mostly quite subtle things that gardeners intuitively know are "odd".

We probably underestimate how sensitive our environment is. The amount that man is causing the climate to change might sound small, but the effect on the climate is already noticable. And God knows what the future holds!

 

I totally agree with pete...we dont live for long enough to actually notice climatic changes, we may notice an unusually cold or warm decade but they could be a blip with the long term trend the complete opposite. Weather has so many variables, thats why nobody can say for certain if we are impacting or not. But Clarkson and his daily mail reading, immigrant bashing climate change denying mob really p£$ss me off.. Even if man is not warming the climate cutting down on what we remove from the earth is a neccassity ....the expoding population will get us before the weather anyway!

 

Hartley - I am sorry, this is going off topic a bit. But I have to agree with theplantsman that even if there were no such thing as global warming, we still need to go through the exercise of getting international agreement to address the other, very real, problems of dwindling natural resources {in particular oil - but other resources as well), and the exploding population.

 

I disagree. The climate is changing so rapidly due to man's activity that we are already seeing fairly dramatic effects, all over the world, but also in our gardens.

As a young 'un, I dread to think what gardening will be like when I'm an old bloke propping up my bar stool showing the pub regulars my prize parsnips!!

 

As reported on the BBC due to the 'prolonged' cold weather, daffodil growers are panicking slightly because their blooms won't be open in time for Mother's Day presents this Sunday...but they will be looking marvellous by Easter!

 

If you had asked the same question two years ago Hartley, my reply would have been, yes I have noticed some changes gardening wise.
After the last TWO and I hasten to add TWO winters and summers, my reply is no, very little difference from when I started gardening back in the early 70s.

After last winter it was said that we had just gone through a 30yr winter and its likely to be a very long time before we see one like it again.
Hang on you "experts", its been even worse this year.

Now I'm just wondering, has this been the 60yr winter, or is next winter going to be worse than this?
It would take a few years for things to get back to how they were before the string of mild winters, but I'm sure it may well happen if it carries on like this for a few more years.

 

Thank you for replying everyone. And I am never opposed to topic shifts, I like to provoke a nice to and fro where possible :thumb:

 

The planet has been warming up and cooling down for the last 2 billion years for goodness sake. It`s just another step in our ecological history.:gnthb: Also the " climate scientists " are starting to be found to be liars of the first order.:D:thmb:

 

You don't think the impact of civilisation has any bearing of note then? Do you think we humans are flattering ourselves to think such a thing...? :cnfs:

 

If, and I say if, any damage was caused to the atmosphere by carbon emission. Then that damage was caused by the coal guzzling people of the Georgian/ Victorian age. As for there being a hole in the Ozone layer, what a load of Bovine Manure. :gnthb:

 

.

When i was a teenager, we were in my pals granddads house watching TV.
There was a scene showing refugees fleeing from the Germans in the SWW, something was said (I cannot remember what, by one of us) his Granddad said, when you see a crowd of people all going the one way, you go in a different direction.

The CHANCERS who are making an incredible amount of money ( grants and backhanders) out if this, their latest scare, don't want anyone to doubt their word, as then the gravy train would halt.

Don't forget, at first they called it "global warming" and for a few years there was an increase in some places in temperatures, then when there was a few colder years and ordinary people started laughing at them, they then called it climate change, so they were able to have their cake and eat it!

And what do governments do, they tax us even more, on the evil pretence that they are saving the planet!

In my short time on the planet, we have had wet years and dry years, warm years and cold years, whatever next?

.