E-Port #3: Response to 'Climate Change Lecture'

The lecture on friday evening was on climate change, the problems associated with it and how they should be addressed. The aim of this lecture was to provide students with more background knowledge on this crisis that the earth is facing, thus allowing students to not only aid with the upcoming writing assignment but more importantly to create awareness that many are lacking. The lecture was divided into three parts with three different speakers, each part covering different aspects of climate change, from environmental to political viewpoints.

The first speaker, Professor Andrew Palmer from Cambridge, focused on the various measures we can take to mitigate climate change. Examples include increasing fossil fuel efficiency, seeking and converting to alternative energy sources such as hydro and solar energy. He also proposed an idea of using today's technologies to capture and store carbon dioxide in depleted gas field in membrane bubbles and place them at the ocean bed. However as beneficial it sounds for the environment, i find it not feasible and unrealistic. Apart from the huge cost needed which might already turn off many government bodies and environmental companies, there is a risk for the ecosystem of the ocean if somehow the membrane bubble was to burst. Hence it is counter-productive to solve containing the greenhouse gas, but introduce another environmental risk to the oceans.

The second speaker, Assistant Professor Benjamin, lecture was focused on energy problems we face today and how Science and Technology studies can help solve these problems. In addition, he discussed on the various challenges that might arise by coming up with these solutions. To illustrate this he talked about two case studies, namely electric cars and renewable energies. Many obstacles in these case studies were identified, such as market failure, political hindrance and cultural resistance. I find what the professor said to be very true, especially in the context of today, any new technology introduced in today's market, will be firstly scrutinized on its ability to sell and reap in profits then on the extent it can benefit the environment.

The last speaker, Assistant Professor Bala, dived back into the general idea of climate change. He mentioned how climate change has become a global fact and the consequences growing more dire with each passing year. Solutions must be found as quickly as possible so as to halt or more realistically slow down the effects of global warming. 'Think globally and act locally" was his ending quote to the lecture, i find this quote meaningful, but however to only a small extent.

To conclude, it is interesting to know the different methods suggested to help contain and slow down the effects and process of climate change. However some of these suggestions and proposed solutions are at best just an idea, and cannot be formulated in real life. This lecture however does provide great knowledge on the broad topic of climate change and touches on many political, cultural and economic aspects that we as engineers might tend to overlook.