THE COASTAL ADVENTURER SEAWEED

ast month we learned that the days around this time of year are incredibly long as the northern hemisphere is at its maximum tilt towards the sun. At the North Pole this gives 24 hours of daylight; in Scotland it’s still light at 11pm (for every degree north of latitude, days get about four minutes longer). These long days result in more warmth, partly because the extended daylight gives land more time to heat up. But there is another reason, also to do with the tilt of the earth. You may think that as we facing the sun we are closer to it, which is why July is hotter than December–but this is not so. In fact, we’re furthest from