We are so close to the dangerous limit of CO2 in the atmosphere that we are going to overshoot the safe levels and will have to make dramatic changes to maintain our way of life. There is not much that can be done about the population growing to eleven billion because, although we have passed peak birth rate, people are not dying as fast as they used to and it is the survival rate that is increasing the numbers. Hans Rosling does a very good Youtube explanation of population growth. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTznEIZRkLg
So where can we make the changes to manage the planet in a sustainable way and, without a major war, keep everyone going until the population numbers fall naturally at the end of the century. The first step is to stop burning fossil fuels and move to clean (and cheap) renewable energy. We must change our food producing methods so that we can produce more food from the same, or smaller area of land and with much less cattle farming. Stop cutting down forests and start planting native trees for forests that are not going to be felled. Replace iron and cement production with other materials. Stop plundering our oceans for fish and dumping our rubbish in the rivers and sea. Lastly, we must start to remove CO2 from the atmosphere to stop the planet heating up.
The good news is that rapid advances in technology mean that the solutions are available to us now even if they need scaling up of production and getting the production costs right. Transport has largely been solved so that petrol cars can be described as the walking dead, and are being replaced by electric batteries. Burning coal to make electricity is an expensive form of energy and is also on the way out. It is the scale of production of wind, solar and geothermal energy backed up by batteries that is the time limiting factor. Tony Seba does a very good lecture on the rapid changes in the world. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2b3ttqYDwF0
For those who doubt these changes, we are already using drills and other battery powered electrical tools that are not connected by electrical wire. Laptops are being dropped in favour of tablets. Mobile phones are smaller and longer lasting. Changes are coming very quickly.
There are two technologies that can make a massive difference to our way of life and these are Graphene and MOF’s (Metal Organic Framework’s).
There are two technologies that can make a massive difference to our way of life and these are Graphene and MOF’s (Metal Organic Framework’s).
Graphene is carbon that is made in a sheet one atom thick and is 200 times stronger than steel. It will conduct electricity better than copper, it can be used to transfer electronic data nearly as fast as light, it is so thin that it is nearly transparent and can filter liquids such as sea water to take out impurities or can store hydrogen without leakage for fuel tanks. ( https://www.explainthatstuff.com/graphene.html )
These properties mean graphene can replace steel or aluminium in construction of planes or other vehicles, bridges and any structure needing strength and light weight. It will be used in the next generation of batteries to give increased power and durability for less weight. Imagine a solar/battery driven graphene plane.
These properties mean graphene can replace steel or aluminium in construction of planes or other vehicles, bridges and any structure needing strength and light weight. It will be used in the next generation of batteries to give increased power and durability for less weight. Imagine a solar/battery driven graphene plane.
Metal Organic Frameworks are in a metal powder form that acts like a specialist sponge. It can be made in a form that can absorb water from the atmosphere in a desert and produce clean water for drinking. It can absorb CO2 from the atmosphere and then we can split out carbon for use or storage and return oxygen to the atmosphere. ( https://www.chemistryworld.com/features/mofs-find-a-use/2500508.article )
Both these products are in their early stages but have massive, societal changing capability.
Food production is not very efficient in many areas and we have degraded and abandoned about 25% of our farmland through erosion and bad practices. There are two ways of improving the conversion of land area to food productivity. One is by producing much more food in greenhouses where the climate is protected and there are no losses from weather and pests. They can be sited on poor quality land and even in deserts. ( https://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-10-01/sundrop-farms-opens-solar-greenhouse-using-no-fresh-water/7892866 )
The other area, which may not be so popular. is that we reduce our consumption of meat and dairy and eat alternative products made from vegetables. It takes 60,000 litres of water to make one kilogram of beef and we are running short of good water in many areas. Big improvements have been made in producing food from vegetable matter recently and when a minced beef, made from vegetable products that will make a suitable burger patty, the viability of the dairy sector will be undermined.
( https://sunfedfoods.com/ )
( https://sunfedfoods.com/ )
The parts of climate change where there does not appear to be a solution are the state of the oceans, with fish stocks and ocean acidity, with sea level rise and changing weather patterns. All of these are extremely serious but we will have to deal with them while at the same time accommodating millions of people displaced from their homes.
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