Читать книгу How Can I Stop Climate Change: What is it and how to help - Литагент HarperCollins USD, F. M. L. Thompson - Страница 23

Temperatures in central England have increased on average by 1°C since 1960, and individual months are getting warmer year by year.

People are feeling it. The heat wave of summer 2003 killed more than 2,000 people in the UK, and in 2006 a heat wave led to a shortage of grazing land for dairy herds, pushing up the costs of milk production. A 2006 survey of farmers found 60 per cent claiming that they were already feeling the effects of climate change. In some parts of southern England farmers are introducing crops once thought more appropriate to more exotic climes, including apricots, sunflowers and maize. Olives are thriving in Devon and English wines are gaining fans as growing conditions become more suitable. But not all fruits are benefiting – milder winters are not very good for blackcurrants, for example, which need cold weather to bear fruit. And drier summers mean that more and more fruit farmers are having to irrigate their crops.