Abingdonian 2020

30 The Abingdonian Scholars’ Lecture In January, the scholars attended a fascinating lecture given by Professor Myles Allen, Professor of Geosystem Science in the School of Geography and the Environment at Oxford University and Head of the Climate Dynamics Group in the University’s Department of Physics. Professor Allen addressed the increasingly pressing issue of Climate Change, which our generation must face boldly and responsibly to resolve the impacts that the human race has inflicted upon itself and put a stop to this exponential, pertinent crisis. After the lecture, I was inspired to undergo some extra research to consolidate my knowledge and put together this article as a reminder to all that we all carry the duty of protecting our planet for future generations who will work alongside us for this aim of mitigating Climate Change before it is too late. We often hear of climate activists campaigning for individuals, governments and other bodies of various levels of authority but just as vital influence, to take small steps such as planting trees, consuming less, becoming vegetarian and riding public transport for the environment. But this is only enough to slow down Climate Change. The Professor suggested that if we are to completely stop Climate Change, we must stop dumping carbon dioxide into the atmosphere immediately. This argument is supported by data showing that if we are to stabilise carbon emissions, CO2 atmospheric concentrations would continue rising whereas fully eliminating emissions would plateau CO2 atmospheric concentrations but with a lag time of several years after action is taken. Surely this is not very feasible since there would be fierce opposition from all aspects of society, having grown accustomed to the economic benefits and convenience that the burning of fossil fuels brings over more sustainable energy sources? Apart from large-scale planting of trees for naturally removing carbon from the atmosphere (carbon sequestration), there is only one solution technological advancement has bestowed us with so far, Carbon Capture and Storage. And the only people with the resources to access this technology are the very companies who are responsible for drilling into the earth for fossil fuels in the first place. Without having to persuade the world to give up such a valuable commodity, especially developing countries who rely on fossil fuels as a cheap means of energy to develop their economies and sanitation, Carbon Capture and Storage is the capture of carbon from the air or from point sources (localised and stationary areas of pollution) such as power plants, transporting it deep underground where it remains deposited in geological formations. Although carbon dioxide can in theory be injected deep into the ocean from oil platforms since it is soluble in water, it is not popular due its harmful impacts on marine organisms potentially as a result of acidified water conditions and high costs. Although this technology is more or less mature and successful and in fact financially viable in the long term despite being seemingly expensive (the cost of electricity production is increased by 35-85% with the implementation of CO2 sequestration), it is not very widely used. Thus, the role the Professor gave us at the end of the lecture is to persuade more people to adopt this method of reducing carbon emissions by 80-90% to save the planet by compensating for our emission of greenhouse gases which directly correlates with global mean surface warming. At the current rate, the carbon threshold of 1.5 degrees C global warming in this century would be exceeded in 2028 and if we do not restrict this to below 2 degrees C or more ambitiously 1.5, ecosystems will be damaged and result in more extreme weather such as droughts that could destroy crops and lead to starvation, particularly in developing countries, or even drown populations as a result of rising sea levels. In conclusion, we are all members of Planet Earth, and hence in return for the gifts of life and resources which we have misused we all must play a part cohesively in resolving the not totally irreversible but soon indelible damage that we have done to Mother Nature, addressing her cry of desperate help towards us. In my opinion, this lecture reiterated a topical issue which I once considered tediously repetitive and fruitless due to humanity’s tendency to dismiss responsibility, refocusing our attention that solving Climate Change is a group effort of disseminating decarbonising technologies and raising public awareness. Boco To, 3SJP