Just a fortnight ago, near Valencia, Spain, four months’ rain fell in four hours.

It fell at not twice or even 10 times, but nearly three thousand times the seasonal average. 

The River Dana rose and swept all before it; when the water subsided, some buildings had vanished and streets were barricaded with cars.

This on a planet that has just reached the 1.5C heating the Paris agreements pledged to avoid.

Further heating is ‘baked in’ to the world’s future. Extreme weather will become still more violent and more frequent.

While much can and should be done to cut the emissions that heat the world, we need to get ready for more extreme heat and storms.

Our community resilience is our ability to keep going despite shocks and disruption. As the pandemic showed, people everywhere rise to the occasion. We look after each other.

Stephen Taylor says that extreme weather will become more violentStephen Taylor says that extreme weather will become more violent (Image: Stephen Taylor) Rising to the occasion is inspiring, but there are also preparations to make.

In recent years, heavy rain has flooded South End Green. We can be sure worse storms are on their way.

The South End Flood Action Group is working to ensure storm drains are clear, but also to get Hampstead streets and gardens to absorb the rain and release it slowly. It is not just rain. In heatwaves, small high flats become uninhabitable hot boxes; we need to protect elderly residents.

Thinking clearly about our difficult future is hard. It is easier to keep calm and ‘carry on’. Perhaps this is why political leaders experience little demand for collective action. And why anxiety levels are so high among young people.

As part of our Resilience programme, the Hampstead Neighbourhood Forum is collaborating this autumn with Churches Together in Hampstead to host monthly climate cafés.

These events are not about planning or demanding action, but simply safe spaces for sharing your thoughts and feelings frankly, based on the successful Death Café model where people could talk about and prepare for their death.

We’ve held two already. The next is at the Hampstead Community Centre at 7pm tonight (Thursday, November 14), the fourth will be at Rosslyn Hill Unitarian Chapel at 2pm on Sunday, December, 8.

Please write to climatecafe@hampsteadforum.org if you would like to join us.

  • Stephen Taylor is vice chair of the Hampstead Neighbourhood Forum (hampsteadforum.org)