Climate Change - Weather

Almost amusingly, the car pictured on the left of the above 1952 London smog photograph, is a Morris Minor convertible, the car I took to Ireland over 50 years ago, to holiday with mrs maytrees who hales from Dublin.

Amazon had a recent filmed account of the dreadful 4 day London smog in 1952 that was said to have killed c. 6,000  people,  largely through S02, rather than C02, inhalation. 

Amazon are probably correct in suggesting that the death toll was far higher rather (though not mentioned by Amazon) like the death toll from the Covid-19 pandemic  in the UK, is much higher than the published figures suggest. After all if one became bronchitic during the smog, death from bronchitis might not have occurred until years later. 

The causes of the smog were a static high pressure atmospheric situation over London combined with the huge amount of coal being burnt in fireplaces for people to keep warm in the winter. Added to these factors was that post WWII coal rationing had only been halted for the cheapest most sulphuric type of coal.

Amazon was  critical of Churchill for not being entirely open with the public about smog figures and for not declaring a state of emergency in London. The NHS in London was overwhelmed with smog sufferers even having to take up beds in maternity wards.

In C21,  smog is not the main climate problem for the world or the UK though SO2 is still a huge difficulty, but climate change, which for example is causing sea levels to rise especially risking low lying islands and nations. 

The UK which probably accounts for under 1% of world C02 emissions is now hardly the cause of the excess of C02 in the atmosphere, the increased heat in the world and rising sea levels. Furthermore hardly any coal is still mined in the UK.  Excessive CO2 is largely caused here by motorised transport such as motor cars and lorries. Then there are aircraft, shipping and armed forces. 

Whether attempts to adapt more vehicular transport to electrical rather than petroleum energy will be hugely successful remain to be seen.

Though quietly optimistic about future becoming more electric, the way forward will not be easy for any government. Already in the  talk  in the UK is of a further year of freezing petrol prices whilst almost certainly, increasing nationalised train fares.