Climate Emergency Forum discusses a paper titled “Scientists Warning on Technology” published in the Journal of Cleaner Production. The paper highlights the double-edged nature of technology.
This video was recorded on April 17th, 2024, and published on May 5th, 2024.
While technology holds immense potential for addressing climate change through electrification, renewable energy, and AI-driven solutions, certain technologies can also cause harm to the climate and habitats. The authors warn that harmful technologies should be phased out, and future technologies must be approached with caution to mitigate unintended consequences.
The urgent need for a “Manhattan Project” level of effort to rapidly develop and deploy technologies that can cool the planet and remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere is emphasized. Merely reducing emissions is insufficient, and a complete conversion to non-polluting economies is crucial. This would require mobilizing the best scientific minds and resources on an unprecedented scale.
The role of political and economic factors in hindering climate action is also addressed. The discussants criticize the influence of fossil fuel corporations on policymakers and the lack of independence between governments and corporations. They stress the importance of public awareness and individual efforts to drive change, as well as the need for a fundamental shift in societal thinking and intentions.
The paper’s omission of climate interventions like carbon dioxide removal and solar radiation management is touched upon. While these technologies are gaining mainstream attention, the panel cautions against assuming they will provide a silver bullet solution, emphasizing the need for a comprehensive and cautious approach.
Links:
– Scientists’ Warning on Technology
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959652623042324
– Unprecedented Crime
https://www.claritypress.com/product/unprecedented-crime/
– Manhattan Project
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manhattan_Project
– Global Warming in the Pipeline and Earth’s Energy Imbalance (CEF Video)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KnDb_bznZvE&t=628s
– Planet Under Siege (CEF Video)
https://youtu.be/AoB7c0_QX6E
– Ecosystem Restoration Communities Update (CEF Video)
https://youtu.be/cXaTHw84vZ0
– Net Zero by 2050 – Analysis
https://www.iea.org/reports/net-zero-by-2050
– United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Framework_Convention_on_Climate_Change
– Eco Grief (CEF Video)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUSmD6oieJQ&t=47s
– I = PAT
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_%3D_PAT
– Global Tipping Points Report 2023
https://global-tipping-points.org/summary-report/narrative-summary/
Regular Panelists:
Dr. Peter Carter – MD, Expert IPCC Reviewer and the director of the Climate Emergency Institute
Paul Beckwith – Climate Systems Scientist. Professor at the University of Ottawa’s Paleoclimatology Laboratory as well as at Carleton University
Regina Valdez – Program Director, Climate Reality Project, NYC. GreenFaith Fellow and LEED Green Associate
Video Production and Panelists:
Charles Gregoire – Electrical Engineer, Webmaster and IT prime for FacingFuture.Earth & the Climate Emergency Forum; Climate Reality Leader
Heidi Brault – Video production and website assistant, Organizer and convener, Metadata technician, COP team lead for FacingFuture.Earth and the Climate Emergency Forum; BA (Psychology); Climate Reality Leader
Our Website:
https://climateemergencyforum.org/
Attributions:
Background Music:
– Title: Through the City II
– Author: Crowander
– Source: Free Music Archive
– License: CC BY-NC 4.0
Image and Video: https://climateemergencyforum.org/assets/attributions/2024-05-05-scientists-warning-on-technology.html
source
Politicians work for big corporations. They’re all bought.
The problem is your praising a role of government that ended with Ronald Regan in 1980s
I think Artur is right. In a democracy the solutions need to come from the people. The politicians whatever, dont have examples of what we can and should be doing against what is coming. Weve been trying to pioneer demonstration of deadly obvious near city food growing with minimal fossil fuel use. Our problem on the ground in Wales is the local planning authorities are stuck in 1950 and ignore the Assembly who would like to see action and have made some positive legislation. The people in the planning department rationalise by saying they believe in climate change but not the interpretation, whatever that means. The planning in Swansea have been very busy with a high emissions development boom for the University. Its insane but they dont see it that way lol .
It's true that applications of science have contributed significantly to global warming and climate change. Cars and rockets for example
I think that using 'the Manhattan Project' and the 'Apollo Moon Project' to illustrate what can be done in an emergency falls short. These were relatively small and specialized projects carried out by scientists. WW2 provides a better comparison
During WW2 the US spent up to 40% of its GDP on the war effort. For example: In 1939, the total aircraft production for the US military was less than 3,000 planes. By the end of the war, America had produced 300,000 planes. Now, that's more like it.
This unsettling fact remains : humans – and humans alone – have single-handedly upended a complex natural balance that was acquired over BILLIONS of years. In a mere 200 years homo sapiens have hubristically slapped together a "Rube Goldberg Machine" of various technologies that now threatens life itself. I truly wonder if our reliance on more technology to solve the problem isn't the epitome of hubristic arrogance and denialism. "It's not nice to fool Mother Nature". Population reduction and simpler living is the no-brainer solution. If we can't do it for ourselves, Gaia will do it for us. She is in the process of doing that right now. We, homo sapiens call it "climate change" or "global warming".
Carbon Capture Sequestration Within Marine Fish:
With some of these fish, as I understand, living beyond 100 years and 500kg plus, and possibly amassing 10% ~ 20% body weight worth of carbon, being functioning ectothermic animals, their bodies having developed through natural selection as slow-moving aquatic creatures that represent biological heat sinks, whereby they take heat from their natural environment and convert that into work. In thermodynamics, work is defined as the transfer of energy from one system to another. When ectothermic fish absorb heat from their surroundings, they are essentially performing work by transforming thermal energy from the environment and into their bodies. This process of heat acquisition allows the fish to maintain their metabolic functions and regulate their body temperature, enabling them to carry out essential activities such as digestion, movement, and growth. In this way heat absorption serves as a crucial form of work that sustains the physiological processes of ectothermic fish and contributes to their overall energy balance within the ecosystem.
The Big Bio Battery and Adapting to the Impacts of Climate Change:
By mimicking natural processes and strategically distributing entropy within the marine ecosystem, the Big Bio Battery aims to create a sustainable energy source that adapts to the evolving conditions brought on by climate change.
While climate risk asserts a continual reshaping of human ingenuity, addressing the energy imbalance imperative by exploring pathways that not only reduce carbon emissions but also fosters opportunities for both human communities and ecosystems to flourish assists to equalize this imbalance. Utilizing computational data, particularly through statistical analysis employing Shannon Entropy, offers insights into future scenarios, making seemingly impossible solutions plausible. However, it also serves as a guide in discerning effective strategies amidst the accelerating ocean heat. Our reliance on deep modelling alone can no longer be considered a reliable advantage, especially as marine heatwaves and the frequency and intensity of cyclones are projected to increase in accordance with thermodynamic laws and entropy principles that ultimately deconstruct and reconstruct information. This continuous state of decline, reminiscent of geological epochs, hints at an impending collapse or dissolution into disorder, illustrating the delicate balance of coral reef ecosystems. These ecosystems teeter between two states: one of intricate organization, existing within a narrow thermal bandwidth, and another evolving heightened thermal equilibrium, verging on heat death or “unified state.” In this ever-evolving narrative of environmental fragility, akin to Alice’s journey through Wonderland, we are compelled to navigate a landscape where boundaries of normal understanding blur, urging us to explore the depths of ecological intricacy and confront the looming spectre of systemic collapse with renewed curiosity and resolve.
Implementing the Big Bio Battery as a renewable energy storage solution presents a promising avenue for mitigating the adverse effects of coral bleaching and climate change. By harnessing bioenergy derived from principles embedded within the carbon storage capacity of large ectothermic fish, their controlled spawning and egg maturation, organic fish waste, and exploiting the emergence of energy flow associated to the concept of Maxwell’s Demon, this innovative technology offers a sustainable means to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and curb the rise in ocean temperatures.
Furthermore, by providing reliability and resilience within a cyclical energy transfer system, the Big Bio Battery can support the development of climate adaptation strategies aligned to fostering the adaptive principles of implementation of Cluster Reefs of Artificial Reef Devices helps better our responsive understanding to coral reef resilience, coral restoration efforts, and addresses the decline of biologically diverse habitats vital for the future of fish propagation.
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4 or 5 years ago, I would have given the same spiel about Robotaxis and Full Self Driving. Now I would say just use buses and taxis with drivers. At least for quite a long time to come. With far less vehicles on the road, and high standards for professional drivers, I don’t think humans would be a problem. The main thing is just to get rid of private cars, except perhaps for people who live in the middle of nowhere.
I say forget politician’s wearing t-shirts. Take the damn money OUT OF POLITICS. Period.
Let's be smart…well I was in a taxi today and having a good conversation with the driver about Ukraine and the state of the world in needingvto desecrate conflicts. Then let's be dumb we started another topic on climate change whereby his opinion was hat humans were only a tiny part responsible. With a history of failing many times to convince a climate change sceptic in the past, I sat for a moment in silence…shall I opt for a quiet life and say nothing? ISuddenly I started sprouting out all sorts of facts based on videos watched ftom Peter Paul Regina etc. I just kept on relaying the science…quite forthrightly. I then got out of the taxi and wished the driver a good day. If that makes a 1% difference to his next passenger then it felt better than saying nothing. Thanks again for all the work you do to educate and inspire ❤
Good to see Paul now saying all the things I’ve been saying for years. I guess that’s what liberals do.
I pray for the rewilding and degrowth of extractive economies so that we can do as much as possible to save what is left of this world.
Ya’ll are not talking about saving the Earth. You are attempting to “bargain”, to save Global Industrial Civilization with technology. Without a living Earth-you got nothing.
What is the rule around complex civilizations? They collapse. A good argument can be made that collapse has already begun. This is so very very simple. What is the trend for all extracted resources energy return on energy invested? No externalities allowed in a closed system. Determine cost from extraction, to transport, to smelting, to refining, to manufacture, to transport again, to installation, to maintenance, to disposal.
Pick any extracted resource. Say, copper. What is happening to copper ore grades? Trick question. What’s happening to rare earths? What must inevitably happen to E.R.O.I. ? On a FINITE planet? With increasing demand? With a still increasing population(the whole Earth, not just the 1st world)? Now add increasingly damaged “carrying capacity” or ability of the planet to sustain life? Yes, there’s more to this. But none of it is actually good. What do you get?
Answer: a brick wall.
All human activity, in all contexts and endeavors must contract sharply…..and it will.
The Earth can do a lot of healing. I don’t know how much. It doesn’t need the shiny, new, hotness of technology. It needs stillness and time.
The Earth needs stillness and time to heal. Our struggle to maintain Global Industrial Civilization is the very thing that will doom us. Allowing the Earth to recover, will save us.
Cake or Death?
2:42 A.I. will be used to generate profits in end stage, neo-liberal capitalism. After that it’s all about whether you prefer teriyaki flavored or ranch flavored Soylent green.
'The Plan', such as it is, can certainly not sustain more than eight billion humans. Maybe a billion? Worldwide? So now what?
Warfare increasing planet-wide… In the context of this discussion, this fact is totally opposite from what 'needs' to happen. Oh yes, the money… Less profit would be earned by de-growth. So that idea is binned…
Also the 'embodied energy' or 'embodied carbon' or more recent term of 'upfront carbon' of modern building materials and as well applicable to the energy/carbon it took for the making of the high-tech's!
There is no technology that will compensate for the 50 years since the oil companies knew. Better to focus on transition and resilience.
Let's be smart! ( not dumb 🙁
If we build wind and solar power, plants, or if we build coal and diesel power plants, it’s going to take some mining.
The fossil fuel companies want you to believe it’s going to take more mining to use renewables than they are worth.
They want us to pay them to build new fossil fuel fired power plants and keep burning fossil fuels for the next 50 years.
Exxon knew about greenhouse gases from burning fossil fuels 50 years ago, and they’ve been lying to us ever since.
Renewable energy companies, tell us that wind and solar are abundant natural resources we can harvest with a minimum amount of destruction to the earth. Offshore wind farms, produce massive amount of power without taking up any land. Solar panels can cover the parking lots of big box stores and provide shade to the cars as well as power for charging EV’s. We know solar power works well since it’s been powering satellites in space for decades, with zero maintenance required.
Sending you this message over a solar powered satellite Communications system now.
Have a good day!
What a pass we have come to where we could rely on AI to protect the natural world! Personally I only see AI as the next way that the rich can get machines to do work that otherwise they would have to pay real people to do. As for CCS ad other unproven technologies, they are simply smoke and mirrors to allow the fossil fuel industry to squeeze the pips out of what is left in the ground or worse at the bottom of our polluted oceans. The solution imo is indeed to put the brakes on technology and consumption before we (and all our fellow creatures) hurtle ever faster into the climate abyss.
I am envolved with computing. Numerical modelo, the CCM from United Nations. I vê usei in the past, snd norw a much smaller modelo flor parametrização the surfaces physical process
We have tô take CO2 from atmosphere and ocean. And compress it …..
If CO2 is compress. One csn take severas kinds of material. Much at onde it can fertiliza the soil. ….them one can tske. Graphit
The at tjis small City. Leria there is possibilita tô by a small farm tô make some experiments with Mother Earth..
I. Think we all should envolve ourselves in by lands for The f u t u r e
Só if any of you want tô by real …
I am selling …..
I remember that commercial Regina..Its not nice to fool with Mother Nature..it was a butter/ margarine commercial back in the day…Great video and content Regina,Paul,and Peter!! Many thanks..
GO GO electric velomobile!
The problem is this.
Not every Nation is on the same page and just because the USA changes (hopefully), it does not mean that other nations such as China, India or Russia will change.
Just like the Tobacco Industry, if the USA stopped burning Fossil Fuels, The Fossil Fuel Industry will just increase emissions elsewhere. If they really cared about the planet then they would have stopped by now.
You know that as well as I do.Who controls the Fossil Fuel Industry? Nobody does because they are international.
Everything here is time related. We have until the Arctic goes Ice free to find a way out and everyday that time is running out.
If a climate plan is the aircraft then we are rapidly running out of a runway to take off.
Can we get every nation to start acting all at once?
I highly doubt that we can because in case you have not noticed, nations are still at war with each other.
We need World Peace and that has not once ever been achieved in Modern times.
We don't have the technology to remove the carbon out of the air and you have already mentioned that.
Removal of massive amounts of excess greenhouse gases are the only way to stop Global Warming.
Even if we went cold turkey of man made emissions, it is the emissions from feedback loops that don't need any help from us that will continue to warm the planet.
The key question here is do we have time before the Arctic goes ice free?
Because if we don't then we need to concentrate on where we are to go and what we need to got there with.
From my own research, the Northern Hemisphere is toast. I would love to Hope for the best but Hope is just a lie we tell ourselves to feel better for the damages that we have caused.
I try to instead focus on the Reality of our current situation.
What is causing Global Warming?
Overconsumption and Overpopulation that Global Warming is fixing as we speak.
Even if mankind was to disappear off the planet tonight, Global Warming will continue.
Plastic is literally everywhere. It is a fuel in itself and there are microbeads in the soil and microfibers in the air.
As the forests burn, the fires are burning so hot the it is burning the life giving microbes in the soil. Dropping seeds on that soil is not going to do anything because the soil has been rendered unhabitable.
Do we have time before the Arctic goes ice free and the giant air conditioner for the Northern Hemisphere turns off?
Here in Vancouver where i live, summer temperatures are already double that of historical average temperatures.
And don't forget that 90% of Global Warming goes straight into the ocean. If we were to magically cool the planet, whatever carbon was absorbed into the ocean will come back and bite us on the ass in the worse possible way.
I study all of the sciences and not just one or two. It helps me to see the big picture.
I am not saying we should stop fighting. I am saying is we also need to prepare for what is coming.
What is needed is a Mars Mission here on Earth just in case not everything goes as planned.
the politicians arent doing anything, because, there isnt anything to do. it would take every country, every person in those countries, to give up their unsustainable ways, at the same time. does that sound feasible?
trim the population down to around 500 million and cap it there, then you can kick "doomerism" to the curb and maybe give humanity and the planet a chance. the reality of the situation is what it is.
Interesting how do you create other technologies without fossil fuels
Intelligent Dude
I think people should start walking again, it wouldn't just help the atmosphere, it would make people healthier, and we should concentrate on public transport, I'm sick of ugly cars.
How can someone who claims to be a scientist ignore the main context of the problem they are studying?
By context I mean the social system of wage-labour & capital (markets, governments, nation-states, ruling class) that has a single immutable dynamic – the accumulation of capital. Come on! Dig deeper – you can do it.
Tshirts for politicians with their sponsors and $ — Wow, amazing ideia! If is was adopted worldwide we would finally begin to improve the climate situation.
But, Unfortunately. Many of our best scientists are working to improve the extraction of the difficult to get oil and gas. Including wind turbines to supply the electricity to rigs in the North sea , Scotland. Today roads in my area have delays as new domestic gas pipes are installed to new housing area. Houses with no solar . Madness
Which world power is actually taking the necessary steps at this stage? Sadly none. I don't say this to be discouraging. I would like to encourage everyone to disconnect from the industries of these world powers and learn to live as humans once did, in harmony with nature. They cannot stop us from opting-out of the toxic paradigm of "advanced civilization". Look to the cultures of the world before they were colonized. Adopt their values and traditions. Thank them for showing us the way to live on this planet.
It seems to me that each one of your videos lack the sole and most important aspect of the climate emergency's overcoming: the only way out is defeating capitalism. As long as capitalism keeps existing, our world is doomed, so are we. Why don't you guys ever talk about that?!?!? LOL