A Bucket for the Pond
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Photo by MWLS Graphics
Last summer, my pond dried out — and I thought it would never recover. Then, by the spring, it was its old self — complete with damselflies, dragonflies and tadpoles!
I was determined that the pond wouldn’t dry out again. When the water level began to go down, I started giving it a daily bucket of water. If there had been no rain, I also watered container plants every two days.
I have three water butts. At the beginning of June, they were full. By the middle of June, they were empty! Luckily, we then had some heavy showers — and they were refilled. Unfortunately, they have started to empty again.
Why is this Happening?
Summers are becoming increasingly hotter and drier, but I hadn’t had this problem before in June. I was wondering why this was when I saw a report by the UK Meteorological Office that said the UK had just had its hottest June since records began in 1884!
The average monthly temperature was 0.9C higher than the previous highest June temperature recorded in 1940 and 1946.
Records were broken in 72 of the 97 areas where temperatures are recorded in the UK.
Scientists say climate change made the chance of breaking the previous record at least twice as likely.
An increase of 0.9C may not seem a lot, but it’s significant because it’s the average of night and daytime temperatures across the UK.
Although the UK recorded a higher one-off temperature of 40.3C the previous year, June 2023’s high temperatures were sustained day and night.
These higher temperatures caused the pond’s water to evaporate alarmingly. This wasn’t helped by the rainfall being 68% of the June average.
What Can Be Done?
As the increasing temperatures are caused by climate change, governments and big businesses are the ones who can do the most about it by funding:
- Solar farms
- Wind farms
- More reservoirs
- Research
You can:
- Capture rainwater
- Use grey water (uncontaminated, domestic) to water plants.
- Lower the heating thermostat.
- Travel less
- Walk more
- Use green energy
- Have shorter showers
- Fit LED lamps
If you think the small things you can do might not make a difference, remember the effect you have is multiplied by all the other people doing the same things.
Whenever I have doubts, I remind myself of the story of The Starfish.
The Starfish
Photo by Kevin C. Charpentier on Pexels
Strolling along the beach, a woman catches sight of a young man who appears to be dancing at the water’s edge. The young man bends down, straightens to his full height, and casts his arm in an arc. Drawing closer, she sees that the sand is littered with starfish, and he is throwing them back into the sea one by one.
She says, “There are stranded starfish as far as the eye can see. What difference can saving a few of them possibly make?”
Smiling, he stoops and tosses another starfish out over the water, saying, “It made a difference to that one.”