THE world is currently undergoing global warming at a rate faster than ever previously recorded, members of Okehampton Beekeepers were told at a recent meeting.
The event at Shelley Methodist Hall in South Zeal on December 9 saw a record attendance of 27 members, half of the total membership of Okehampton branch.
They were addressed by Dr Jonny Williams, climate research scientist at the Meteorological Office in Exeter.
Dr Williams delivered a comprehensive and highly detailed lecture on the subject of global warming and climate change, presenting evidence for the current rapid changes in the world climate.
The meeting addressed the rapid rise in the concentrations of carbon dioxide in the earth's atmosphere. Dr Williams gave the strong message that current global warming is overwhelmingly the result of anthropogenic interference, caused by human activity, and that urgent action is required to avoid an uncertain future.
Editor of Devon Beekeepers' monthly magazine Glyn Davies asked members to send in dates of first snowdrop sightings to contribute to the start of their own study of natural events.
Dr Williams concluded his talk by showing a number of climate models predicting global temperature and rainfall changes from now until the end of this century.
The models showed the expected impact on climate of differing ongoing levels of CO2 emissions and the predicted effect on crop yields in different areas of the world.
The next meeting of the branch will be on Tuesday January 13 at Shelley and will welcome regional bee inspector Adam Vevers to talk about recognising bee disease.