Imagine a world...
Audrey Barucchi
Climate &?Biodiversity?Education | Empowering?people and organisations?to value and protect nature | Non-executive Director at The Water Well Project
A series of personal reflections on the gap between climate science, climate action and reality.
Imagine a world where we could capture the CO2 from polluting industries, convert it into a “sustainable” source of energy, and then use it to fuel planes and cargo ships. - What could possibly go wrong?....
But don’t you worry Net Zero and Circular Economy enthusiasts, (Clean/Climate/Green) Tech has got you covered!.......because ‘for every problem, there’s a solution’……right?
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Welcome to a world where?Technique has taken over?the whole of civilization.
“Technique has taken substance - it has become a reality in itself. It is no longer merely a means and an intermediary. It is an object in itself, an independent reality with which we must reckon.” Jacques Ellul.
Technology fans, Productivity devotees and Efficiency supporters……. the following news may prove a little disturbing……
-?????Capturing CO2 from heavy industry is extremely energy-intensive (ie. it emits a lot of CO2 – with less than 6% of total global energy supply being ‘renewable’, ‘extremely energy-intensive means ‘extreme amounts of CO2 emitted’).
-?????If we consider the size and urgency of the reductions needed to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement and we take into account how ready and scalable the Tech is currently, believing we can capture carbon out of a growing hyper-emitting/hyper-polluting industry is probably not a viable option.
-?????The production of CO2-based fuels and chemicals is energy-intensive and requires large amounts of hydrogen (the carbon in CO2?enables the conversion of hydrogen into a fuel that is easier to handle and use for transport applications). (source: https://www.iea.org/reports/putting-co2-to-use)
This results in
+ CO2 + lots of hydrogen (which currently is not a green or clean source of energy, but yet another fossil fuel) ≠ ‘net’ zero
Our remaining carbon budget is tiny and there is no more leeway ‘to try' a few things out. In the grand project of decarbonisation, we have ran out of time and budget, and need to concentrate every cent and every hour we have, on real solutions with tangible and trackable impact.
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Finally, this technocentric?theory assumes CO2 is the only issue we're facing and disregards the systemic nature of the climate change and biodiversity?crisis.
The average number of vertebrate populations (mammals, fish, birds, amphibians, and reptiles) declined by 69% between 1970 and 2018, according to the biennial?Living Planet Report?published by the Zoological Society of London and the WWF.
Sorry to be challenging the dream, but this technocentric with absolute faith in technology and industry seem to have forgotten the systemic nature of the world with limited natural resources we live in.
Despite big talks, agreements and wide range of clever techs, the global average CO2?concentration for 2023 is predicted to reach another another record high.
We are not even flattening the curve!
What could go wrong we asked?...
The last time Earth’s atmosphere contained this much CO2?was more than 3 million years ago, when sea levels were several meters higher, and trees grew at the south pole.
Extreme temperatures, droughts, and wildfires have also more than doubled in the past 40 years. Carbon Brief, a UK-based website covering climate science, has gathered data from 400 studies on “extreme event attribution” and has found that 71% of all extreme weather events studied in the past 20 years were made more likely or more severe by human-caused climate change—including 93% of extreme heat events).
Conclusion
An industrial civilisation caught in its illusion of sustainability being another trajectory for growth is the root cause of our climate and ecological crises and therefore the solution lies in its dissolution – in a rethink of how we form and organise ‘society’ - and not in technologies that attempt to continue ("sustain"?) it for as long as possible, causing more harm along the way.
Psychological Safety Consultant for APAC Leaders and DEI Experts ?? Helps leaders & DEI experts link respect and accountability through psychological safety to improve team performance ?? CEO at Human Capital Realisation
1 年Spot on, Audrey! This is well worth reading, everyone.
Applying Professional Skills to Solve Real World Problems
1 年The problem is _____________ . An insufficient solution isn't a problem. It might be a distraction or a delusion, but it's not "the problem". If I am wrong and I understand your point, that grand social delusions prevent real solutions, then the best thing to do is focus on tangible reality. If we are going to discuss climate change and GHGs, let's describe proposed solutions numerically. With those numerical models we can test our assumptions with mathematics. It may be true that none of the current proposals to mitigate or adapt to climate change are sufficient in the context of the scale and scope of emissions. What that should tell us is that we have some real work to do. Therefore, let's collaborate together to find a mathematical model that meets basic requirements. Should we start with the carbon cycle or an IPCC model or another approach?