NEWFOUNDLAND — Professor John Shepherd, an internationally recognized climate scientist, will speak in the sanctuary of the United Methodist Church at Newfoundland on Sunday, Nov. 2, at 7 p.m. All from the community are invited to this important event.
Shepherd was one of the team of leading climate scientists from the United States and United Kingdom who wrote “Climate Change, Evidence and Causes,” which has received world-wide attention. As that document notes in its introduction, “Climate change is one of the defining issues of our time. It is now more certain than ever, based on many lines of evidence, that humans are changing Earth’s climate. The atmosphere and oceans have warmed, accompanied by sea-level rise, a strong decline in Arctic sea ice, and other climate-related changes.”
In his talk, “Climate Change: What Is Happening, and What We Can Do About It,” Shepherd will discuss global warming resulting from the relentless increase of carbon dioxide levels in the air and the reality that even if we manage to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the climate will continue to change for a long time, because the oceans only slowly absorb carbon dioxide from the air.
Shepherd summarizes the big picture as this: while global total emissions eventually need to be reduced by at least a factor of four, global population growth and industrial growth in the developing nations will mean that we probably need to reduce emissions by a factor of 40. Can science and technology provide the solutions necessary for this kind of reduction? Low carbon energy technologies available can contribute, but they are unlikely to be enough. Carbon dioxide capture and storage from power plants and even perhaps from ambient air, which might allow continued use of fossil fuels, are likely to be vital developments. Attempts to geo-engineer the climate are also conceivable. However, some mix of education, economic incentives, and regulation will be needed to make these developments happen, and happen soon.
Shepherd, a Fellow of Britain’s Royal Society, the prestigious academy of sciences in the United Kingdom, has devoted his professional life to research into the oceans and climate, investigating a wide range of environmental issues. He was awarded a CBE by Queen Elizabeth in 2010 and currently serves as the professorial research fellow in Earth System Science in the National Oceanography Centre at the University of Southampton in the United Kingdom.
The United Methodist Church at Newfoundland is located at 65 La Rue Road.