Our Changing World

Antarctica holds around 90% of our planet’s ice and 70% of its freshwater. There’s so much water that if all the ice melted we would be left with global sea levels over 60m higher than present, flooding the likes of New York, Sydney, and London. Whilst Staffordshire is safe, where, when, and how much the Antarctic ice sheets will melt in a warmer world is a major focus of research, and reducing uncertainty in sea level rise is critical and urgent. This talk will explore how and why the Antarctic continent is changing and how these changes may impact our everyday lives, despite its remoteness.

The UK, and indeed North Staffordshire, has a long history of earthquakes, locally known as goths or bumps. This talk will look at the history of British earthquakes, where they occur (and where they don’t) and some of their consequences. It is not well known that, whilst we don’t get really large earthquakes, there have been about a dozen fatalities from tremors in the UK over the centuries. The causes of British earthquakes will be discussed as well as our changing attitudes to earth tremors. The talk will also dispel a few earthquake myths such as we measure tremors on the Richter Scale.