3rd e-post

After the lecture on 30 January, write a report of 300-400 words that

1. Summarizes the main points each lecturer presented

2. States what you found interesting and why

Three presentations on technology and environmental issues were presented by Professor Andrew Palmer, Professor Benjamin k. Sovacool and, lastly, by Professor Rajasekhar Bala on 30th January.

Firstly, Professor Andrew Palmer touched on the topic on global warming, particularly on the possible technology techniques to tackle it by reducing the quantity of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, and the stands of politicians regarding such climate change. The possible responses to climate change are improving fuel efficiency and conservation, switching to alternative renewable energy sources and storing of carbon dioxide in the depleted oil, gas well or ocean. On top of that, he also mentioned about the lack of interest from the politicians as they perceive other issues, such as economic crisis, poverty and military defense, as having higher priorities.

I agree that there is an absolute need to reduce the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and this requires global cooperation. Climate change is a global issue and countries around the world should put in significant amount of effort to counteract the causes together. However, it is depressing to say that I have to agree with Professor Andrew Palmer about the lack of interests in combating global warming shown by the politicians around the world. I think the main reason for this is because long term mitigations are required to counteract the deep-rooted problem which we have caused over the years. Moreover, for most of the countries in the world, the combating of economic crisis, poverty and even against each other, come before the environmental issues. Hence, the mitigations to global warming are delayed without considering the rapid declination of the sustainability of our Gaia as time passes. Techniques and policies to reduce greenhouse gases are widely available, but it depends on the wills of government around the world to adopt them and tackle global warming in full front.

Next, Professor Benjamin k. Sovacool talked about the interconnectivity of technology with political, social and economic, the substitution of fossil fuel with renewable power and the electric vehicles in the 19th century. The introduction of green energies have to cross over the economic, political and social hurdles in order to be accepted by the majority. In the nutshell, the failure and acceptance of technology are related to the power and interests rather than the science itself.

In order to counteract the damages we have done so far, we have been introduced to renewable energies. However, these new technologies are not widely practiced due to the underfunding of research and development and only little incentives are given to companies to promote the usage of renewable power. Hence, we can see the important role of government in tackling global warming. The behaviour of the society is also very important as this determines the market demands. Therefore, in order to practise the use of renewable energies across the world to combat the increasing of greenhouse gases, we require the active role of the governance and positive responses from the people.

Lastly, Professor Rajasekhar Bala rounded up with the assessment and mitigation to climate change by beginning with some background information and statistic regarding global warming and greenhouse effects. Then, he moved on to talked about the causes and effects of global warming and what individuals, companies and government should do to slow down this phenomenon. In his presentation, he also highlighted the difficulties in dealing global warming as it is a long-lasting global problem.

The enhanced global warming phenomenon has also led to other consequences, such as the irregular distribution of droughts and floods, increasing in spreading of infection diseases and extinctions of species. Although we cannot really see the direct link between these and global warming, it is a fact that these consequences are occurring more rapidly with the increase in the earth’s average temperature. All these effects highlight the urgency of tackling global warming and capping the amount of carbon dioxide emitted. If politicians, companies and individuals continue to ignore this environmental problem instead of enforcing mitigations immediately, the protests from the Earth may become more dreadful, like those featured in the movie, “The Day After Tomorrow”.

In conclusion, we, as the populaces of Earth, should execute the mitigations for global warming immediately as it takes long time to see their effects. We, especially the governments, should not think that environmental issues can be dealt at a later date because we might not even have tomorrow.