My impression before listening. Well, basically before listening. I got to 0:43 before deciding to comment. First, a crisis is a situation where there's some bad stuff that may happen or not, pretty much on an all-or-nothing basis, with the outcome being determined (or becoming clear) at a specific time. Climate change has none of these characteristics. It's an ongoing problem, with multiple effects that may happen independently at different times. Its course may worsen gradually, or be ameliorated gradually. Every ton of CO2 emitted makes the problem worse. Every ton of CO2 emissions avoided or removed decreases multiple risks, by different amounts, at different times. There is not a climate crisis, that's going to be over soon one way or the other. There's a climate problem, which may be more severe or less so, and will definitely be with us for a long time. Second, there is a good likelihood that fairly soon water will no longer be the kind of issue it has been, for two reasons. One is that the amount of solar energy we can get for each dollar has been increasing exponentially, and the main cost of desalination has been energy. So the falling cost of energy will soon reach a point where desalination can be optimized for minimum capital cost instead of minimum energy requirement. The other is more of a long shot. It's feasible to make hydrocarbons (equivalent to natural gas) from water, CO2, and electricity. If the cost of solar energy continue to fall, fairly soon it may even be cheaper to do so than to drill for natural gas. It's possible at laboratory scale to make the basic molecules of food -- sugars, amino acids, and fatty acids -- by chemical rather than biological means. If so, the need for water will be decreased by an order of magnitude, because irrigation requires vastly more water than other uses do.
What we are talking about is finding a way for humans on earth to live with almost zero electricity and fossil fuels. My uneducated guess is we will live like humans did in 1750 ad.
Brilliant & inspirational. Thank you Rupert & Andri.
Overshoot is a name for the crisis.
Moron is the name for stupid
It’s too late for humans to ‘grow up’ - to grow into wisdom - in time to avoid widespread suffering.
YEAHHHH :DDD
My oldest grandchild is six years old. 2100 is not meaningless.
My impression before listening. Well, basically before listening. I got to 0:43 before deciding to comment.
First, a crisis is a situation where there's some bad stuff that may happen or not, pretty much on an all-or-nothing basis, with the outcome being determined (or becoming clear) at a specific time. Climate change has none of these characteristics. It's an ongoing problem, with multiple effects that may happen independently at different times. Its course may worsen gradually, or be ameliorated gradually. Every ton of CO2 emitted makes the problem worse. Every ton of CO2 emissions avoided or removed decreases multiple risks, by different amounts, at different times. There is not a climate crisis, that's going to be over soon one way or the other. There's a climate problem, which may be more severe or less so, and will definitely be with us for a long time.
Second, there is a good likelihood that fairly soon water will no longer be the kind of issue it has been, for two reasons. One is that the amount of solar energy we can get for each dollar has been increasing exponentially, and the main cost of desalination has been energy. So the falling cost of energy will soon reach a point where desalination can be optimized for minimum capital cost instead of minimum energy requirement. The other is more of a long shot. It's feasible to make hydrocarbons (equivalent to natural gas) from water, CO2, and electricity. If the cost of solar energy continue to fall, fairly soon it may even be cheaper to do so than to drill for natural gas. It's possible at laboratory scale to make the basic molecules of food -- sugars, amino acids, and fatty acids -- by chemical rather than biological means. If so, the need for water will be decreased by an order of magnitude, because irrigation requires vastly more water than other uses do.
Why do some people distrust consensus peer reviewed science. You can see it in the comments sometimes.
Very powerful and moving. Thank you
What we are talking about is finding a way for humans on earth to live with almost zero electricity and fossil fuels. My uneducated guess is we will live like humans did in 1750 ad.
Entitlement, the basis for the extermination of those not part of the club...