Solving the climate change problem: mitigation, adaptation or geoengineering?
Solving the climate change problem: mitigation, adaptation or geoengineering
It is now widely accepted that the climate is warming due to human activities, predominantly emissions of greenhouse gases from energy generation and transport. However, there is still a legitimate debate concerning the best way to deal with climate change: should we be working flat-out to decarbonise our societies, or would it make more sense just to adapt to uncertain future climate changes as they emerge? More radically, does dealing with climate change require huge changes in human systems worldwide to reduce inequality, to change human diets, or even to geoengineer the Earth’s climate to counteract global warming? This dilemma will explore possible contributions to the management of climate change and discuss optimal mixes of mitigation, adaptation and geoengineering to stabilise climate and maximise human wellbeing.
Lead academic: Professor Peter Cox
Anchor academics: Dr Tim Kurz Dr F Hugo Lambert
Taster session
Date: 2 November
Time: 09:30 - 10:30
Location: Forum Auditorium
Description: Cut CO2? Geoengineer? Get used to it? These are all options that have been argued for by various sectors of society in response to the threat of global climatic change. This taster session will frame the climate change grand challenge for students via a court-room debate between prominent climate change scientists from Exeter, and external experts from the Met Office. Three Exeter academics (Prof Cox, Dr Kurz and Dr Lambert) will act as “barristers” arguing for “do nothing”, “cut CO2” and “geoengineer” respectively, calling upon expert witnesses to support their claims. There will be cross-examination by the opposing barristers and the audience in order to examine potential inconsistencies and weaknesses in the position of each barrister. The student audience will form a jury who will vote on the best solution to the climate change problem based on the evidence presented and a ‘verdict’ will be given to highlight the challenges and ‘unknowns’ that need to be explored further by students in June.
Sign up:
If you wish to pick this dilemma sign up through My Career Zone from 5th November.
Professor Peter Cox
Professor Peter Cox is Professor of Climate System Dynamics and leader of the inter-disciplinary “Climate Change and Sustainable Futures” activity at the University of Exeter. His personal research has focussed on interactions between the biosphere and climate, including the first climate projections to include vegetation and the carbon cycle as interactive elements. These simulations demonstrated the potential for the land carbon cycle to provide a very significant acceleration of global warming through loss of soil carbon, and also suggested that the Amazon rainforest could dieback under climate change. Peter Cox is a lead-author on the forthcoming Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and is a member of Science Advisory Group for the Department of Energy and Climate Change, as well as being amongst the most highly-cited authors in climate change research during the last decade.
Dr Tim Kurz
Dr Tim Kurz is a Senior Lecturer in Psychology at the University of Exeter. His research specialises in studying public responses to climate change.
Dr Hugo Lambert
Dr Hugo Lambert is a Lecturer in Mathematics at the University of Exeter. His research specialises in understanding the physical processes that govern climate and climate change.
Inquiry Groups
If you sign up for this dilemma, you will be working in groups focusing on one of the following areas below:
1,2) Developing apps to engage the public with climate change (Tim Kurz & Hywell Williams)
Output: Two teams will design an App to be pitched to a representative of the Met Office
3,4) Using online social networking to change attitudes and behaviour towards climate change (Hywell Williams & Tim Kurz)
Output: Two teams of students will develop a form of climate change communication which they will then roadtest for effectiveness by releasing it on online social networking sites
5) Debunking myths about climate change (Hugo Lambert & Peter Cox)
Output: Students will develop a U-tube video for RTCC
6) Changing the energy mix (Peter Cox)
Output: Students will produce an interactive webpage that be hosted by RTCC and accessible via the CCSF website
7) Beyond NIMBYism: Understanding public objections and acceptance of energy infrastructure (Patrick Devine-Wright)
Output: Students will develop a group powerpoint presentation that assesses the key issues involved in resolving conflicts between local stakeholders and national energy demands.
8) Feeding the world in a changing climate (Stephen Sitch)
Output: Students will prepare an infographic pamphlet
9) Designing buildings for a changing climate (Tristan Kershaw)
Output: Interactive webpage that allows the viewer to explore potential housing futures
10) Could we, and should we, geoengineer our way out of the climate crisis? (Hugo Lambert & Peter Cox)
Output: Students will prepare a powerpoint presentation on physical, technical and social aspects of geoengineering.
