Especial Christmas Seminar: The ‘Climate Emergency’: scientific basis, impacts and possible solutions to the first planetary human problem

Climate change is fundamentally different, in that it is a collective problem played out in the well-mixed global atmosphere, and which can only be addressed through a globally-coordinated policy that addresses the majority of our species. Thus far, we have made essentially no tangible progress on this challenge. I will briefly discuss the scientific basis of climate change, including how greenhouse gases work, evidence for natural climate change in the past, and human emissions.

I will then review the expected impacts of climate change on a range of timescales, focusing on temperatures, food production, sea-level rise, and ecosystem alterations, as well as the reasons why the impacts will almost certainly exceed expectations. I will then discuss the possible means by which climate change can be mitigated or reversed, and how these might interact with other aspects of human activities and well-being. I will conclude that, although a daunting challenge, the climate emergency may provide the impetus required to develop a global policy that could benefit humanity in the long-term.