Scientists test radical ways to repair Earth's climate

Scientists in Cambridge plan to set up a research centre to develop ways to repair the earth's climate.

Watch the YouTube video - “Scientists test radical ways to repair Earth's climate.”

Global climate action movement Extinction Rebellion to protest in Cambridge

Members of a global climate action movement will take to the streets of Cambridge this weekend to call on local authorities to declare a climate emergency.

A city showing the effect of Climate Change. 

The Cambridge arm of Extinction Rebellion will lay down in two "die-ins" at the Grafton Centre and Grand Arcade on Saturday (December 15) to protest local inaction on climate change and air pollution.

This will be followed by a go-slow road walk to Shire Hall where a tree will be planted. Traffic disruption is likely, say organisers.

Read the story by Gemma Gardner from the Cambridge Independent - “Global climate action movement Extinction Rebellion to protest in Cambridge.”

The most dangerous time for our planet

Stephen Hawking says we have the capacity
to destroy earth, but not leave it.

As a theoretical physicist based in Cambridge, I have lived my life in an extraordinarily privileged bubble. Cambridge is an unusual town, centred around one of the world’s great universities. Within that town, the scientific community that I became part of in my 20s is even more rarefied.

And within that scientific community, the small group of international theoretical physicists with whom I have spent my working life might sometimes be tempted to regard themselves as the pinnacle. In addition to this, with the celebrity that has come with my books, and the isolation imposed by my illness, I feel as though my ivory tower is getting taller.

So the recent apparent rejection of the elites in both America and Britain is surely aimed at me, as much as anyone. Whatever we might think about the decision by the British electorate to reject membership of the European Union and by the American public to embrace Donald Trump as their next president, there is no doubt in the minds of commentators that this was a cry of anger by people who felt they had been abandoned by their leaders.

Read The Guardian piece by Stephen Hawking - “The most dangerous time for our planet.”

(The inequality discussed here by Stephen Hawking is one of the great markers of climate change, and it is the rich elites with their consumptive behaviour, belligerent outlook, and competitive instincts that have manifested themselves as climate change - Robert McLean.) 

'After the Electoral Extravaganza' - with Noam Chomsky

Noam Chomsky -
"human imbecility".

“Human imbecility” was the term employed by Noam Chomsky when discussing the world community’s response to nuclear proliferation and climate change.

In what was a rather depressing, but elucidating lecture, entitled “After the Electoral Extravaganza”, Professor Chomsky was at the lecturn for nearly 90 minutes discussing our intellectual inadequacies, in a kindly manner coupled with some sound and good advice, and answering questions from the obviously rapt audience.

The lecture, given on just the 18^th of last month, was held at the Harvard-Epworth Church in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Jorgen Randers: updating ‘2052’

Jorgen Randers elaborating
 on the 2052 forecast.

Today, in Cambridge, a meeting was held with several of the authors of the "Glimpses" that were part of the "2052" book by Jorgen Randers. The idea was to update the forecasts that were published in 2012.

Randers showed the update of his model, obtained with new data and with some modifications of the model itself. In five years, there have been modest changes and the basic results of the initial model are confirmed.

1. Randers' model sees the growth of both the economy (in terms of GDP) and of the population up to 2052; although the forecasted population is less than 9 billion people, much lower than the UN predictions.

2. Randers' model doesn't see scarcity for any resource, at least up to 2052

3. Inequality and poverty will remain as significant problems.

4. The model clearly says that we are NOT staying below the 2 degrees limits. Renewables will be growing fast, but so will do fossil fuels at least for another couple of decades. Randers' climate model (a different one) doesn't produce a "climate tipping point" for the rest of the century, but the raising temperatures will do enormous damage to the world's economy and to people.

Read this piece from Cassandra’s Legacy - “Jorgen Randers: updating ‘2052’.”