The UK government's climate adaptation strategy overlooks farm animal welfare, according to Claire Bass, senior director of campaigns and public affairs at Humane World for Animals UK. In a letter to the Guardian, Bass argues that current discourse on heatwaves and farming treats animals almost entirely as economic assets, framing deaths as 'reduced productivity' rather than acknowledging the suffering of sentient beings.
Animal Welfare Act Ignored in Heatwave Planning
Bass highlights that the Animal Welfare (Sentience) Act 2022 requires ministers to consider animals as sentient beings when developing policy. However, she notes that climate adaptation plans for farming fail to account for the welfare of millions of animals during extreme heat events. She points to the June heatwaves in France, where temperatures reached 44C, leading to the deaths of between 1 and 3 million birds in a single week, preceded by hours of panting, heat stress, and organ failure.
According to Bass, pigs and poultry can begin suffering from heat above 27C, and when temperatures exceed 35C, British farms and livestock transport systems are pushing against the limits of conventional cooling systems. With the Met Office warning that UK temperatures could reach 45C by 2056, she emphasizes that climate adaptation plans must look beyond balance sheets, recognizing that what's at stake is not just the bottom line but the suffering of sentient beings.
Libraries as 'Cool Spaces' Under Threat
In a separate letter, Chris Phillipson, emeritus professor of sociology and social gerontology at the University of Manchester, supports the idea of libraries operating as 'cool spaces' for communities. He notes that such facilities will become increasingly important for groups vulnerable to heat-related stress. However, since 2016, over 180 libraries in the UK have been closed or turned over to volunteers, with deprived communities four times more likely to lose their library compared with richer ones.
Phillipson argues that poorer areas are precisely those with least access to green and blue space, tree cover, and other sources of protection from extreme heat. Given the crucial role of libraries in society, with relief from climate change now added to their many other vital functions, he calls for a programme to reverse a decade of cuts.
Other Reader Responses: Lidos and NHS Pressures
Mick Beeby from Bristol suggests that the Labour government should implement a nationwide programme of restoring and refurbishing outdoor lidos that have fallen into disrepair, and possibly build new ones, to help cope with extreme heat.
Dr Julian McDonough from Sheffield responds to comments about NHS summer pressures, questioning what has changed: 'So, we, working in the NHS, must prepare for summer pressures in addition to winter pressures? That's just pressure, isn't it? I'm unclear as to what has changed.'
