Question: Have you got any idea in how we are going to stop global warming

Murray Collins answered on 19 Mar 2011:

Hi JimBob,

This is a very important question. Humans are affecting the climate by emitting particular gases such as carbon dioxide and nitrogen dioxide through things like deforestation, industrial development, and transport (aeroplanes, cars etc). To change this we can do many things! Two of the main things we need to do are 1. reduce energy consumption by being more efficient and making changes in our society; and 2. change the ways in which we produce and distribute energy. We also need to help poorer countries to do these things, particularly reducing emissions from deforestation, which is the area I am working in. Then when we know what we can do scientifically, we need the right policy in place to make it happen. So, 3. political support is essential.

1. Reducing energy consumption
* we can increase the energy efficiency of the technology that we use.
This can be the things we use in our home, like fridges and televisions, through to the machines we transport ourselves in. So making lighter aircraft that fly further on less fuel is one way for instance.

* Increasing the efficiency of the processes we use to make things.
This means that we improve the efficiency of the technology used in the manufacturing process of machines, and also in constructing new buildings. Construction causes a lot of emissions, like when you have a building site with all those machines running.

2. Changing energy production

* Improving the capacity of renewable fuels
We urgently need to invest in research and development of energy sources other than fossil-fuels like coal. We have been trying to ‘trickle’ these kind of technologies into our energy supplies, but I think personally that this has been a large mistake and that need radical shifts in our energy production systems. Large scale investment in improving technologies such as solar energy (photo-voltaic cells) would hopefully lead to much efficiencies and capacity in these technologies (meaning we should hope to get more energy for less).

* Continue to support research into nuclear energy so that it can be produced as safely and as efficiently as possible. Despite the accident in Japan, I still think nuclear energy will be extremely important part of our energy supply in the future, particularly if nuclear physicists can successfully supple power from nuclear fusion. This would be a wonderful breakthrough.

* Continuing to develop technologies that reduce emissions from fossil-fuel power stations, for instance carbon storage and sequestration units that are put on the chimneys of power stations and reduce emissions at the source of production.

These are just a few of the options that we can take. There are many more. One important thing we could do is to help make changes in poorer countries When scientists discovered that carbon dioxide emissions from cutting down trees in tropical rainforests was causing about 15% of all the emissions that people cause across the world, there was an increased focus on managing these forests better to reduce emissions from their clearance. This is the area which I am working on, and we think that if rich countries could help poor tropical countries to slow rates of deforestation, we could have major reductions in carbon dioxide emissions quite quickly. This is particularly the case if we can stop reducing the clearance of peat swamp forests, which hold massive amounts of carbon. This is why I am working in peat swamp forest conservation!

3. Political issues
We probably don’t need enormous technological advances at this stage to address climate change. What is really essential, absolutely essential, is getting the political will to do something about it (that means getting politicians to agree to actually do something, and then do it!). Unfortunately in countries like the USA, a country which has provided such an enormous contribution historically to the development of science, the politicians are rejecting/ignoring all the science which explains the processes and mechanisms of climate change. This means that even though scientists have a great amount of understanding of the ways we are affecting the planet, and the things we could do to reduce our impact, the people who make decisions about what to do are deciding not to do anything about it! This is one of my reasons for being involved in this science communication project. We are fortunate enough to live in a democratic society with freedoms to protest, demonstrate and make our opinions known. The more people who know and understand the challenges we face, the better.

You are the next generation, and what your world, and your children’s world, looks like will depend to a large extent on the decisions that we make now as a society. I think that it will be deeply unfair if my generation and older generations refuse to do anything to address these problems, and leave the younger generations with a poorer world, and with fewer choices to do anything about it. That is one of the main reasons for working in this broader area -trying to actually do something about the challenges we face!

Projects like I’m a Scientist I think can help directly connect people not actively working in science, but who are interested and concerned about particular issues (like climate change) with those people who are lucky enough to be working directly in universities and other research organisations. When we are connected, we can communicate. When we communicate we can all learn from one another. When we learn from one another and understand different aspects of the problems we face we can reach agreement about what to do as a group of people, as a society. When we agree we are better able to make tough decisions about what we need to do, like making changes to the way we live.

Keep the questions going and let’s keep talking. Have a good weekend, it’s sunny outside!

Cheers

Murray