It seems a long time ago now that we were sweltering in a summer heatwave with everything that has happened in the intervening months.

But July's high of 40.3 degrees centigrade was a record and the ten hottest years in the UK have all come since 2002. And we can witness the consequences across Devon with reservoirs at all-time lows and hosepipe bans remaining in some parts of the South West.

So even though we are beset with other serious problems, it is vital that we keep climate change, and how we can mitigate it, high on the political agenda.

I've written here before about the Devon Climate Emergency partnership which includes 29 organisations including Devon County Council, our district authorities and other public bodies and businesses.

The partnership has just finalised its Devon Carbon Plan which highlights how we can all help to reduce our impact on the planet by choosing how we live, how and where we travel and what we buy.

Between now and the New Year each of the 29 organisations will be called on to endorse the plan and - more importantly - demonstrate how they will cut carbon emissions.

I'm delighted to report that Devon County Council's Cabinet has already done this with the endorsement of all the political groups.

The Carbon Plan details how the county of Devon can become net-zero carbon by 2050 at the absolute latest. It's a plan for the whole county but, as for Devon County Council itself, we are still well on course to be net-zero by 2030.

We've retro-fitted buildings with heat pumps, replaced older boilers with condensing models, installed solar panels on our buildings, introduced more electric vehicles and converted our street lights to LED.

So I hope the county council will be seen as a community leader across Devon and that our efforts will encourage other public bodies, businesses, communities and individuals to play their part.

Because we are not going to achieve success unless the vast majority of residents accept that we will all have to change the way we live our lives.

For example, most emissions in Devon - 68 per cent - come from buildings, both our homes and workplaces as well as road transport. And currently just seven per cent of Devon’s energy comes from sustainable sources.

That almost certainly means more on and off-shore wind as well as more solar panels on buildings and, yes, potentially on our less productive agricultural land.

I was interested to see the results from our Citizens' Assembly which debated the issue. The assembly consisted of a cross section of Devon residents chosen to represent the make-up and views of the county and including climate change activists and deniers.

There was a clear majority on the assembly for on-shore wind power but there was no clear majority for any curtailment of the use of private cars. Now views do change. In my lifetime we've gone from cars not even having seat belts to automatically buckling up every time we make a trip and from people smoking everywhere to our current situation.

That's what I mean when I say we have to take people with us. And in a predominantly rural county like Devon that means we will have to have viable and affordable alternative ways of getting about in order to persuade people to travel without using fossil fuels.

In essence, the carbon plan's aim is to create a more resilient and sustainable county where both people and nature can thrive. That seems a very worthy goal to me.