Dr Dave Reay
University of Edinburgh

Climate Change Begins at Home

Tony Blair once described climate change as ‘The world’s greatest environmental challenge’; Sir David King, the government’s chief scientist, has called it ‘the most severe problem that we are facing today, more serious even than the threat of terrorism’; even the Queen has recognised the ‘urgent challenge’ it represents and has taken steps to cut the climate impact of the Royal Household. In the papers, on the radio and on our TV screens, warnings about global warming and its impacts are coming thick and fast. But, once you take in the sheer scale of the problem, it’s all too easy to feel helpless. With power stations and factories belching millions of tonnes of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere every year, what difference could the actions of individuals really make? Author and climate-change scientist Dave Reay discussed the state of current climate-change science and politics, the likely impacts of climate change, and the role of the individual in doing something about it.

Robert Armour OBE
Company Secretary, British Energy

Scotland’s Energy Scene in the 21st Century

There are two vital energy issues facing us in the early decades of the new century: climate change and the security of our electricity supply. Can we achieve the dramatic reduction in carbon emissions scientists say is necessary if we are to stop the worst effects of climate change? Should we be concerned about the increasing risk to our energy supplies? Here in Scotland, the major power stations are ageing, and decision time is looming: Robert Armour of British Energy examined the contentious issues that must be reckoned with as these plants are replaced, and considered the longterm consequences.

Professor Gordon Walkden,
University of Aberdeen

King Canute and the rising Seven Seas — Global Sea-Level Change

The United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change published its fourth assessment report in late November last year. It predicted that sea level could rise by up to half a metre within the next 100 years. This would be enough to affect profoundly the lives of all those under twenty today. But is this revelation really a shock? Is sea-level change something new? Can we stop it? Should we try? In fact, sea-level change is the rule rather than the exception. For example, since the end of the last ice age, the sea level has risen by well over 100 metres, but most of that rise was complete by 6,000 years ago when sea level stabilised. Is it by sheer coincidence that in that same 6,000 years, mankind has progressed from living in huts and holes with a stone-age culture to living in great cities with an electronic culture? The lecture looked at sea-level change past, present and future, and briefl y reviewed some of the possible effects of sea-level change on biodiversity and civilisation. The rise rate predicted over the next century is about as fast as the average rise since the last glacial maximum. He left the question dangling, ‘Could half a metre of sea-level rise knock us back to the Stone Age?’

Professor Stuart Monro OBE
Director, Our Dynamic Earth

Living with Natural Disasters

Natural Disasters face each and every one of us at some time or another. The global communications networks now bring any natural disaster and its consequences directly into our homes within hours. The lecture explored the importance of understanding the Earth’s system. Plate tectonics is the backdrop against which many natural disasters — the distribution of explosive volcanoes, the occurrence of earthquakes and the specific type of event we know as tsunami — can be understood. Many of these cannot be controlled, but we have a responsibility to try to understand why they occur and to monitor the Earth’s system. This also leads to a responsibility for mitigating the worst effects of events which we know will happen but can’t predict exactly when. Climate change is a growing concern and is a good exemplar of how outcomes need to be assessed against a backdrop of very many variables — all those associated with the Earth system. Solutions to global issues will not be found just through the study of Biology, Physics or Chemistry, but by applying an interdisciplinary approach. This holistic perspective is the challenge that faces the new generation of today’s students who will be the scientists and decision-makers of tomorrow.

Question Time

What are you doing about our planet?

Television and radio presenter Nicky Campbell (EA 1966-78) returned to the Academy to host the final event of the series. An impressive assembly of MSPs comprising Sarah Boyack, Scottish Labour spokesman on the environment, Annabel Goldie, leader of the Scottish Conservative Party, Shirley-Anne Summerville from the Scottish Nationalist Party and Nicol Steven, leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrat Party, was joined by Professor Monro to face a barrage of questions from 15 to 18 year-olds. Pupils from ten schools across Edinburgh accepted an invitation to join the audience.

Nicky Campbell ensured that events never flagged and the evening was both entertaining and informative. Many of the questioners were perceptive and provocative. Predictably with such a gathering, the outcome was inconclusive!

Thanks

The Academy would like to thank each and every one of our guests for their time and trouble in preparing their lectures and submitting to the questions. It was a truly memorable series.