This is from Pauline Hocking, a Manchester resident, reposted (with permission) from her facebook.

PLEASE EVERYONE IF YOU ARE PLANNING TO TRAVEL, CHECK FLOOD WARNINGS. Unprecedented flooding is spreading across the whole of the North West. Not just Cumbria but Salford, Bury, Rochdale, Leeds… the list is growing. Friends & family affected, my heart goes out to you. Those I do not know, my heart goes out to you.

I have to say, shout, scream…. “we need to talk about climate change”. To anyone who says “Now is not the time.” – you are right. The time was in 1988 when the Toronto conference of climate scientists said if we do not reduce carbon emissions, our climate will warm. They correctly predicted that a warmer climate would lead to greater weather extremes, especially extremes of drought & flood. In the interim, as they tried with all their might to warn us, they have been disbelieved, insulted, vilified. In all investigations as to their integrity they have been 100% exonerated.

How has this happened? How did we block our ears and not hear them shouting ‘fire!’? There are now investigations into Exxon Mobil, Peabody Energy & other fossil fuel companies for deliberate campaigns of misinformation that purposely seeded doubt and confused the science. Why would anybody lie in this way? Why would they commit the greatest crime against humanity, robbing future generations of a viable planet and putting present generations through a living hell? Dead simple – they all benefit financially from the sale of carbon rich fossil fuels that when burned produce heat trapping CO2.

For me it’s got so personal. The lakes where I now spend all my hols is sopping. We tried to support businesses there & stay for the festives, but after driving through deep surface water, a swollen river and an overspill of Lake Windemere itself, we bottled it and bolted. And now my Aunty’s house could be underwater, my cousin’s and the houses of many, many friends.

What is to be done? For starters, money to be found as quickly and easily as it was for bombing Syria and every other war (usually with an oil related motive) in order to comfortably re-home & re-furnish the thousands of people and businesses affected. But beyond this, we need to question and re-think the whole money economic system as we know it. Too much to put in one fb post but the best current book expanding on this, without doubt, is “This changes Everything” by Naomi Klein. Climate Change is more urgent than urgent.

Surprisingly, the changes needed are only truly painful to a tiny few and would enrich and improve life for the vast majority (and arguably for the tiny few too). Cleaner air, greener cities, better public transport, clean jobs in renewables, energy independence, lower energy bills in better insulated houses, healthier children… who wouldn’t want all these and the list could go on.

How do we get there? By living and breathing climate action in all of our lives. By demanding it of our elected representatives and in all economic life. By continuing to work together in the heart warming, cooperative, compassionate manner being demonstrated in these floods and continuing beyond that to ensure such floods do not become a permanent feature of ours and future lives.

Climate Survivors, a group that Pauline is involved in,  is meeting early January  but haven’t got a date settled yet. But people can join the facebook group and/or email climate survivors@gmail.com