With the Met Office expecting 2023 to be one of the hottest years on record and last summer’s searing temperatures and wildfires still fresh in people’s minds, a new UK-wide poll by YouGov found almost two-thirds (64 per cent) of the 334 people polled from the south west are worried about older people dying in a heatwave this year.
The survey, commissioned by Round Our Way, examines some of the key climate-related worries for people in 2023.
During last summer’s heatwaves, England recorded 2,803 excess deaths among those aged 65 and over due to complications arising from extreme heat - the figures exclude deaths from COVID-19.
Looking at the statistics, nearly three-quarters of people in the south west (71 per cent) are worried about the loss of local nature and biodiversity as Britain’s climate changes - more than anywhere else in the UK.
Round Our Way is a new not for profit highlighting the impact climate change is having on British families and working to get more working class voices into the climate debate.
Round Our Way’s Director Roger Harding said: “More and more of us feel a growing unease about how climate change is making life less predictable and less safe for our families.
"It's often those of us who are getting on a bit or don't have deep pockets who are hardest hit by extreme weather, whether it’s through rising food prices, floods or - at the most shocking - heatwave deaths.”
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