Glimmers of Hope: Paths Forward on Climate Change - Livestream

As we approach the 52^nd celebration of Earth Day on April 22^nd, it is an opportune time to take stock of our collective progress towards addressing human-induced global warming.  Fortunately we understand better than ever the causes and consequences of recent climate change, and we are amid a world-wide dawn of renewable energy.  In this talk, we summarize the most recent assessments of our global environment from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.  These assessments provide strong evidence and ample justification for accelerating a comprehensive transition to carbon-neutral or carbon-free power.  Due to delays in starting this transition, the world may also need to weigh more drastic measures to avoid dangerous levels of global warming.  The measures include geoengineering to cool the planet as well as carbon dioxide removal from the atmosphere and oceans.  We discuss some of the major upsides and downsides to these contingency plans, and we conclude with basic research underway at Berkeley Lab on new methods to remove carbon dioxide from the climate system.

Speaker: William Collins, Lawrence Berkeley National Labs

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