The climate-change experiment | The Economist

The Economist

Published on Oct 26, 2017
Climate-change experts are researching ways to cool down the planet using geoengineering. How could spraying chemicals into the stratosphere help counteract global warming?

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What if you discovered a way to cool down the planet? Extreme weather events are becoming more common and more ferocious. As the surface temperature of earth continues to rise, so too will the ferocity of natural disasters.

In 2018 scientists will take bold steps to explore a technology that could reverse the effects of climate-change. They’re looking at ways to reflect sunlight back into space and cool down the planet.

Insurers say the number of weather-related disasters has quadrupled since 1970. While world leaders are debating and disputing climate-change and the ways in which humans alter their behaviour on earth, some scientists discuss changes to the earth itself.

In 2018, they’ll take to the stratosphere to learn what it might take – or cost – to cool the planet directly. Geoengineering is the pioneering science that could well be on everyone’s lips in 2018.

The team from Harvard University is the first in the world to test the effects solar geoengineering might have in the stratosphere.

The experiments in 2018 won’t impact the climate, but if one day implemented, this controversial intervention could help curb extreme weather events.

Solar geoengineering has the potential to save lives, but it also poses unknown risks. And there are fears that merely researching geoengineering might be detrimental to the long-term fight against climate-change.

Some environmentalists say that the drive to reduce carbon dioxide emissions could be lost if there’s seen to be a quick fix.

And deciding who controls a technology that affects everyone on the planet won’t be easy. Ultimately solar geoengineering could prove a risk not worth taking. But ignoring it now could be even more dangerous.

Daily Watch: mind-stretching short films throughout the working week.

Food from DNA Altered Plants, Animals to Hit Stores Soon

James McCarthy on Science Debate

sciencedebate2008
Published on Feb 23, 2008

President-elect, American Association for the Advancement of Science; Alexander Agassiz Professor of Biological Oceanography, Harvard University We built it; will the candidates come? See: http://www.sciencedebate.org

Fossil Free News – November 16

Published on Nov 16, 2018
350.org

Every 2 weeks we publish the latest in #FossilFree news. Sign up for updates: http://gofossilfree.org/fossil-free-news

Most Important Graph in the History of Humanity | Dr Roger Hallam | Extinction Rebellion

Going South
Premiered Nov 8, 2018

Lifted from a longer presentation at http://youtu.be/WgFc4Zhvjtg

Globalization 4.0

Published on Nov 16, 2018 World Economic Forum

Globalization is being redefined politically, economically and ecologically at a moment when advanced technologies have ushered in a Fourth Industrial Revolution at a speed and scale unparalleled in human history. How will this new phase of globalization transform international and regional cooperation?

Speakers:
– Julie Bishop, Member of Parliament of Australia
– William Burns, President, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, USA.
– Yoriko Kawaguchi, Professor, Meiji Institute for Global Affairs, Japan.
– Miroslav Lajcák, Minister of Foreign and European Affairs of the Slovak Republic.
– Susana Malcorra, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Argentina (2015 – 2017).

Moderated by:
_Hadley Gamble, Reporter and Anchor, CNBC, United Kingdom.

BBC NEWS | Have Your Say | Is the Earth’s future in danger?

Human activities threaten the Earth’s ability to sustain future generations, a survey into the state of the planet has concluded.

The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, by 1,360 experts from 95 nations, says the way society has obtained its resources over the past 50 years has seriously degraded the environment.

The report also says a rising human population had polluted or over-exploited most ecosystems on which life depends, ranging from clean air to fresh water.

What do you think of the findings of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment? What can be done to reverse global decline?

This debate is now closed. Read a selection of your comments below.

See related:

• Millennium Ecosystem Assessment
• 2005 Report Urges Action Against Ecosystem Damage : NPR
• Rate of Environmental Damage Increasing Across the Planet but There Is Still Time to Reverse Worst Impacts if Governments Act Now, UNEP Assessment Says – UNEP
• Handbook of Climate Change and Agroecosystems

Millennium Ecosystem Assessment

The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA) was called for by the United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan in 2000. Initiated in 2001, the objective of the MA was to assess the consequences of ecosystem change for human well-being and the scientific basis for action needed to enhance the conservation and sustainable use of those systems and their contribution to human well-being.

The MA has involved the work of more than 1,360 experts worldwide. Their findings, contained in five technical volumes and six synthesis reports, provide a state-of-the-art scientific appraisal of the condition and trends in the world’s ecosystems and the services they provide (such as clean water, food, forest products, flood control, and natural resources) and the options to restore, conserve or enhance the sustainable use of ecosystems.

…(read more).

See related:

• BBC NEWS | Have Your Say | Is the Earth’s future in danger?
• 2005 Report Urges Action Against Ecosystem Damage : NPR
• Rate of Environmental Damage Increasing Across the Planet but There Is Still Time to Reverse Worst Impacts if Governments Act Now, UNEP Assessment Says – UNEP
• Handbook of Climate Change and Agroecosystems