In recent times, there seems to have been a rush to out-hyperbole each other when it comes to climate change. 

There is no shortage of do-gooders screaming and screaming until they are sick about the impending doom as they launch another taxpayer-funded initiative to save the seahorse and make themselves feel good in the process. 

But this week, hyperbole was taken to a whole new level in terms of a hysterical reaction to absolutely nothing at all. 

Step forward Catherine Mealing-Jones, chief executive of the Brecon Beacons National Park. 

Or Bannau Brycheiniog National Park – pronounced Ban-eye Bruck-ein-iog – or the Bannau for short as it should now be called. 

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To celebrate its 66th birthday as a national park, it was announced that its name would be changed to the Welsh name on account of the fact it’s in Wales and it sounds better in Welsh. 

Regardless, it’s a nice touch. Preserving the Welsh language and its culture is not a bad thing and should very much be celebrated. 

But Ms Mealing-Jones went further. In fact she went so much further we may never see or hear from her again. 

Giddy with excitement, her main point, probably screamed into a microphone, whilst slapping her head, was that it was to help combat climate change. 

I have absolutely no idea of her logic either, particularly as many trees will need to be cut down to make paper and signs for the new name. 

Maybe she knows something that we don’t – climate change only happens in English and never in Welsh. 

She said the present name – referencing wood-burning, carbon-emitting beacons – no longer fits the ethos of the park. 

The Herald:

She said, presumably with a straight face: “Given that we’re trying to provide leadership on decarbonisation, a giant burning brazier is not a good look.” 

And there in a nutshell is everything that is wrong with green crusades – particularly in the public sector, which is becoming ever more fast and loose with taxpayers’ money on absolute claptrap of the highest order. 

For those who have never been to the Brecon Beacons, they are a range of hills in south Wales and are quite pretty, if a bit bleak. 

They also stand above Merthyr Tydfil, a town so grim it makes Harthill seem like a cross between Las Vegas and Paris. And that takes some doing. 

They were formed more than 423million years ago during the Silurian and Devonian geological eras and are known as beacons because they are made out of red sandstone which can act like “beacons”. 

So no bonfires were lit on the top, so quite why Ms Mealing-Jones made that ridiculous analogy is unclear. 

The grand plan announced as part of the name change seeks to restore tree cover, wetlands, hedgerows, peat bogs and wildflowers to attract wildlife. 

People will also be encouraged to farm in a way that benefits nature, such as restricting grazing to certain areas, leaving a cover crop over winter for birds to eat and not spreading manure or fertiliser where it could contaminate watercourses. 

There are many good things included in their grand plan and our two national parks should be watching with interest and look to introduce similar ideas here. 

But it raises the question – after 66 years of being a National Park, why has it taken them this long to work out how to conserve the countryside, which is the main point of them after all.    

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However as if to prove that some public sector bosses can find a low point to stoop to and then stoop lower, they have included weather advice. 

For farmers. So they can tell what to grow and when. 

Apart from meteorologists, if there is one group of people on the planet who understand and know the weather then it is farmers. 

Their livelihoods depend on it after all and they don’t need a shrill, office-based public servant to teach them. 

But Helen Roderick, sustainable development manager for the park, said a group of six farmers is sharing hydrological maps with other farmers to help them avoid causing pollution. 

She said: “It’s just simple measures, but things that are highly effective. The other thing they’ve done is install weather stations on four or five of the farms. 

“Those are open through an app to any farmer who wants to understand the rain, the wind, ground conditions, to make sure that what they’re doing, they’re doing at the right time in the right weather conditions.” 

As patronising goes, she may as well go up on the moors, pat them on the head and say it looks like it might be raining. 

And then hand them a pair of wellies in case their feet get muddy in the fields.