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Asked by anon-220960 on 18 Jun 2019. This question was also asked by anon-221027.
Question: What do you think about Global Warming and if you could do anything to prevent it what is the most important way of recovering the crisis?
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Kaitlin Wade answered on 18 Jun 2019:
Firstly, I think Global Warming is real (which strangely seems to be discounted by some politicians), so I think that’s important to distinguish. It’s possibly the most important problem we’re faced with in the modern world. I remember watching a programme called “The Inconvenient Truth” presented by Al Gore, which was really the first time I thought seriously about the damage that we’re doing to the planet. I remember him saying something like “If you’re worried about the cost of saving the planet, there’s not much point to money if there is no planet”. Whilst I think it’s sometimes difficult to think how an individual’s contribution to helping reduce climate change, if we all think that then none of us would be doing anything. So I think the most important thing is to start spreading the word of ways that we can help individually so that everyone’s tiny individual contribution becomes an entire country’s contribution, which will have a massive impact on climate change. That’s how we’re going to help the planet. By pulling together so that politicians and world leaders have to start making big changes to help with the individual changes that each country will be making. These individual changes can include simple things like recycling, not using single-use plastics and being energy efficient. See this really helpful link: https://www.nrdc.org/stories/how-you-can-stop-global-warming
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Nina Rzechorzek answered on 19 Jun 2019: last edited 19 Jun 2019 12:10 am
Alongside political instability, global warming is one of the biggest challenges facing life on this planet – the speed with which it is happening makes the problem much worse, because if it were happening at a much slower rate, there might be a chance for ecosystems to adapt. But as it stands, species will not be able to adapt fast enough, and the disruption to ecosystems may be irreversible and devastating. Add to that the changes in weather patterns, and it is easy to imagine how global disaster could unfold with crop failure, new vectors of disease, and extreme adverse conditions that make life in the poorest parts of the world even harder (leading to famine) and threaten our ability to control infectious diseases in humans and animals. This will create further political instability as resources become more difficult to access, which will undoubtedly lead to more war and further suffering. This issue affects every living entity on our planet because life is ultimately temperature-dependent and evolved to survive in steadily developed niches over millennia.
We certainly have the knowledge and ability to slow down or stop the elements of global warming that are exacerbated by human activity, but certain aspects of global warming may be beyond our control (at least for now). The most important way of recovering the crisis is for governments to work together to agree on SMARTER global policies that are (a) specific, (b) measurable, (c) achievable, (d) realistic, (e) time-bound, (f) evaluated on a regular basis, and (g) revised if they’re not working. Imposing the same rules on all countries is not going to work; these policies must be tailored to the capacity, resources, and infrastructure of each country in a way that does not unfairly penalise particular areas of society or of the global community. Engaging people is key, but it is only the start. We need more scientists working on this problem and they need to communicate their findings to policy makers to bring forward evidence-based change. -
Marianne King answered on 19 Jun 2019:
I think global warming is definitely real and happening, which is really sad. I’m not sure what the most important thing we can do is, but I think that a big step is trying to prevent so much pointless plastic packaging being used. Big improvements to public transport and cycle lanes should also be a priority to try and deter people from using cars so much, especially in cities. If people do need a car then it should be easier and cheaper to switch to electric or hybrid cars. I also believe that unless you live in the muddiest countryside or the woods then those massive 4×4 cars should be banned entirely. Research into renewable energy is also great as I think this is hugely important. Little changes in the home too can make a big difference if enough people commit to it. We’re trying to stop using plastic bottles in the bathroom, so are switching to shampoo bars and bars of soap again. I know this isn’t just a list of one thing, but I couldn’t choose just one. 🙂
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Kate Timms answered on 19 Jun 2019:
Global warming or climate change is one of the most pressing problems of our age. If we don’t do something serious to reduce and possibly reverse it soon, we will be hurtling towards a world which we won’t be able to inhabit.
Unfortunately, climate change is deeply political and social issue. For many people around the world, burning wood and coal is the only way that they can get energy. We can’t change that unless we improve their standards of living and access to money. Likewise, many businesses around the world also do not have the resources to use clean energy. I think that if we want that to change, people with access to more money (i.e. Western governments) need to step in to give aid to specifically enable these businesses and people to use clean energy.
Closer to home, we need to legally prevent the use of ‘dirty energy’ my corporations and citizens within our borders. That would mean that all factories etc would have to work on renewable energy. In the UK, that would mean switching our powergrid over to 100% renewable energy. Which we could easily do with a mix of wind, wave and nuclear power.
Next is farming. Farming has a massive impact on climate change. We farm a ridiculous amount of animals which all expel methane into the atmosphere which fuels global warming. We need to drastically reduce the amount of meat we eat across the world.
None of that is easy to do, so it will only come from radical change. The kind, unfortunately, that governments are too scared to make. They’re too self-serving – if they do these things people will be angry and that might hurt their chances of being re-elected.
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Matthew Bareford answered on 20 Jun 2019:
The Earth will always experience Global warming to a degree, as well as cooling. But this is natural and negated.
We can certainly stop the damaging effects of Global warming caused by humans over time, but in the first instance I think we would just be able to reduce it and slow it down. But this would require people to work together and to make a concerted effort to reduce each contributing factor over time until this is all negated.
Comments
anon-220960 commented on :
@kaitlin Wade @Nina Rzechorzek @Marianne King thankyou everyone who replied to my question, the reason I asked was because yes I am extremely scared of what will happen to our humanity and world in the near future, I think the main problem that is slowing the movement climate change is the amount of people who are so uneducated and ignorant to even consider the idea of the future changing. I think its so important that the government do something and do something quickly rather than dealing with other problems that aren’t even as bad. I find it so difficult to even think about my future as an engineer or any other career when the younger generation might not even be able to experience some of the things that I am so grateful to have experienced. And because a very few of us have those types of luxuries a large amount of people have to suffer. In England we are so lucky and loads of people cant see that, we take so much for granted and we still decide to pollute our beautiful planet. And it generally just makes me so upset why anyone knowing the consequences will still decide to carry on with their actions.
Nina commented on :
Hi Mia,
You clearly feel very passionately about this – and that’s a great start to try to do something about it. Please don’t give up on your goal to become an engineer – engineers will be critical to us tackling this problem and safeguarding the planet for future generations.
Very best of luck with your career endeavours!