The Campus event I attended was a lecture by Steven Chu entitled “The Climate Challenge and paths to a more sustainable future”. Steven Chu – former 1997 co-winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics and former U.S. Secretary of Energy- presented in Independence Hall on Wednesday, October 23rd. This lecture was heavily focused on technological advancements in the last century, and their impacts on the environment, as well as advancements moving forward in how to approach The Climate Change issue.
The Lecture opened with facts about the current status of our environment. The trends in rise of temperature are quantitatively linked with the increase of Human CO2 emissions. The earth has its natural shifts in temperature, including ice ages and warming periods, however we can directly link the anthropogenic impact of fossil fuel usage to the rise in temperature over the last 50 years. The UN has a goal to reduce C02 emissions by 2,9000 GT in order to keep the temperature rise below 1.5 degrees Celsius. We have other impacts to deal with such as glaciers melting, sea levels rising, and aquifers being depleted.
Another issue referenced in the presentation was the matter of Agriculture. Over half of our habitable land is used for agriculture, and ~28% of Greenhouse Gas emissions come directly from agricultural land use. We have bred animals such as cows and chickens to grow at an ‘optimal rate’ to feed a massive human population. Essentially, agriculture is one of the largest contributors to anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. Some suggested solutions to this issue include meat substitutes such as the Beyond Burger.
Renewable energy also is offered as a solution to the Climate Issue. In assessing its effectiveness, however, one must look at the total cost – which includes backup generation capacity, energy storage, and an enhanced transmission and distribution system. There is also a storage problem- we need new energy storage tech that store more energy at faster rates. There is current research being done looking into the use of a new generation of lithium batteries, but more on that to come.
As we all know, a large portion of our impact on the earth as humans involve our use of fossil fuels and the transition from horse powered transportation to gasoline powered combustion engines. This transition not only affected how we get from place to place, but the way that we do almost everything. Farmers were displaced because of the introduction of mechanized farming. People flocked to cities in search of manufacturing jobs.
In looking forward, to reverse the effects of combustion, we must convert to 100% renewable energy. On a global scale, this is particularly challenging. There has been an increase in global competitiveness, and Chu links this to the connection between wealth and the quality of life. We currently measure quality of life in terms of material wealth, and we need a paradigm shift. Quality of life should also include factors like longevity, health in old age, and overall happiness. Chu ended with a quote that particularly stuck with me, from an astronaut on the Apollo 8.
“We came all this way to explore the moon and the most important thing is that we discovered the Earth” Bill Anders, Apollo 8 Astrounaut , Earthrise from Apollo 8 (Dec 24, 1968)