• Question: can science do anythink to slow down or stop globlewarming

    Asked by brady to Simone, Katherine, Jeremy, Chris, Carys on 16 Jun 2011.
    • Photo: Carys Cook

      Carys Cook answered on 15 Jun 2011:

      Excellent question. The short answer to that is yes, science can help to slow down global warming. First of all, science can tell us what is going to happen, and when, so that we can make the changes that are required to slow it down, such as pumping less carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Secondly, science can invent new technologies that will help to achieve this. There have been lots of debates recently about whether humans should interfere in the climate system directly, or build things that will slow down global warming immediately. One suggestion has been to build a giant shield and put it in between Earth and the Sun, to reduce the amount of solar radiation reaching the Earth’s atmosphere. Another idea has been to fertilse the oceans, so that the plants that live in the waters will increase in numbers massively and suck loads of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere. All of these ideas are good ones, but possibly dangerous as we understand so little about the climate that we cant predict how it will change when we do really big things to it. Some people argue that we are already changing it so much with global warming, that we should concentrate on reducing our carbon dioxide outputs first. The only way we can really do this is with science!

    • Photo: Jeremy Green

      Jeremy Green answered on 16 Jun 2011:

      Carys gave a good answer, and this is not my field so I am not qualified to say anything detailed. On the other hand, what I can say is that science is not technology and the difference is important for your question. Science enables us to understand that global warming is happening and whether things we do, such as reducing energy use in our homes and cars, are helping reduce the problem. We also need science to understand what the alternatives might be and to generate ideas about new ways of doing things. Technology, on the other hand, is about deliberately making machines or using chemicals and other things to change energy systems (low emission cars, solar panels, wind farms, etc.) or directly try and change the climate. That kind of “global engineering” is a bit scary, but science will help us whether we use it or not.

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