•From Chris Vautier.

IT would be understandable for readers to be concerned when reading the frontpage article (JEP 4 July) headed: ‘Wildlife under threat after another hot start to summer.’

‘One of the hottest starts to summer’.
Surely, proof that there is a true climate emergency and that St Mary needs to be immediately filled with solar panels?

However, context is essential to truly understand what a warm June 2023 means beyond alarmist dogma.

The reality is, as in June 1976, weather patterns are largely responsible for any significant variation in monthly temperatures from one year to the next. This should not be confused with the gradual overall planetary warming of circa 1.2°C (Jersey figures) over the past 130 years, which, incidentally, is an average increase of 0.0092 of a degree per year.

It is regrettable that the same experts who are warning of a devastating impact on wildlife due to a warmer-than-average June, and the inevitable link to climate change catastrophe, failed to mention that winter 2023 (Dec 22, Jan and Feb 23) was over half a degree cooler than winter 2022, while spring 2023 was nearly three-quarters of a degree cooler than spring 2022. It’s also worth mentioning that winter 2021 was cooler still, as was spring that same year. Indeed, 2021 was cooler than 2022 by over 1°C.

The point of sharing these figures is that our weather (and temperatures) can change quite dramatically from year to year and, as we can see, from month to month when comparing prior years. Picking any particular month or period, and proclaiming that it’s a result of climate change, is nothing more than manipulation.

To make the point, May 2021 was, on average, over 2.5°C cooler than May 2020/2022, while April 2021 was a full 4°C cooler than April 2020, and 2°C cooler than April 2022.

Was this proclaimed as meaningful in any way?

None of the above is intended to persuade readers that we are not experiencing anthropogenic warming of the planet. Nonetheless, I would urge caution when confronted with the latest ‘climate emergency story’ when linked to seasonal or monthly weather. Most readers care about the environment, but crude manipulation should be dismissed as such.

PS… If Mike Stentiford had been in my car travelling through France last month, he would have found the insects avoiding his bedroom on my windscreen.

Le Catel, Rue du Câtel, Trinity.