WEBVTT

1
00:00:20.517 --> 00:00:23.931
Climate change in the Arctic Circle region

2
00:00:24.189 --> 00:00:27.407
is a grave threat to the manageable future

3
00:00:27.509 --> 00:00:29.305
of all of humanity.

4
00:00:30.009 --> 00:00:35.634
The sea ice covering the Arctic Sea
has been melting more and more rapidly

5
00:00:35.806 --> 00:00:37.485
over the last 30 years

6
00:00:37.579 --> 00:00:40.123
due to climate change and global warming.

7
00:00:41.095 --> 00:00:42.617
The challenge is such that

8
00:00:42.700 --> 00:00:45.563
what we do over the next ten years

9
00:00:45.647 --> 00:00:47.184
is probably going to determine

10
00:00:47.267 --> 00:00:48.384
the future of humanity

11
00:00:48.468 --> 00:00:50.478
for the next few thousand years.

12
00:00:51.204 --> 00:00:54.298
Unless we act quickly, by mid-century,

13
00:00:54.382 --> 00:00:56.063
all of our coastal cities

14
00:00:56.139 --> 00:00:57.933
would be unmanageable.

15
00:00:58.728 --> 00:01:01.652
For example, 90 percent of the landmass

16
00:01:01.735 --> 00:01:04.938
of Vietnam will be under sea water,

17
00:01:05.025 --> 00:01:06.720
at least once a year,

18
00:01:06.803 --> 00:01:09.079
less than 30 years from now.

19
00:01:09.275 --> 00:01:10.726
Where do the people go

20
00:01:10.809 --> 00:01:13.212
who are subject to being underwater?

21
00:01:13.400 --> 00:01:17.064
What level of migration does that lead to?

22
00:01:17.345 --> 00:01:19.454
The consequences are severe.

23
00:01:20.720 --> 00:01:24.970
Here is the Russell Glacier melting rapidly

24
00:01:25.054 --> 00:01:27.587
causing that great river of water

25
00:01:27.670 --> 00:01:29.423
to flow into the ocean.

26
00:01:29.720 --> 00:01:31.954
It’s black, it’s darkened,

27
00:01:32.040 --> 00:01:33.798
and that is due to the arrival

28
00:01:33.885 --> 00:01:36.471
of soot from fires in the west,

29
00:01:36.573 --> 00:01:38.681
from burning forests, etc.,

30
00:01:38.765 --> 00:01:41.602
and then the ice melts much more rapidly.

31
00:01:42.415 --> 00:01:44.807
When all of the ice is melted,

32
00:01:44.890 --> 00:01:46.228
global sea levels

33
00:01:46.345 --> 00:01:50.783
will have risen by 7 meters, or 23 feet.

34
00:01:51.095 --> 00:01:53.594
But we must anticipate severe impact

35
00:01:53.677 --> 00:01:55.118
on our coastal cities

36
00:01:55.202 --> 00:01:57.493
within a few decades.

37
00:01:58.603 --> 00:02:00.720
There’s another big threat that we have.

38
00:02:00.806 --> 00:02:02.139
The permafrost melting

39
00:02:02.222 --> 00:02:04.556
in the land surrounding the Arctic Sea

40
00:02:04.642 --> 00:02:08.181
causes rapid, explosive release of methane.

41
00:02:08.775 --> 00:02:10.698
If it was all released

42
00:02:10.781 --> 00:02:12.704
over a 20-year period,

43
00:02:12.798 --> 00:02:15.165
global temperatures might rise

44
00:02:15.260 --> 00:02:17.804
by five to eight degrees centigrade.

45
00:02:22.892 --> 00:02:25.493
Now, clearly, these sea level rises,

46
00:02:25.576 --> 00:02:27.150
and temperature rises,

47
00:02:27.298 --> 00:02:29.845
and changes in global weather systems

48
00:02:29.977 --> 00:02:31.626
must be avoided.

49
00:02:33.868 --> 00:02:35.298
We need to actually

50
00:02:35.364 --> 00:02:37.491
return to an understanding

51
00:02:37.634 --> 00:02:39.048
of the importance

52
00:02:39.131 --> 00:02:42.516
of our ecological systems to our future.

53
00:02:42.600 --> 00:02:44.556
We are part of that ecology,

54
00:02:44.775 --> 00:02:46.024
and that’s very clear,

55
00:02:46.124 --> 00:02:48.544
because at the moment, we human beings—

56
00:02:48.617 --> 00:02:50.103
all of us together—

57
00:02:50.187 --> 00:02:51.970
are destroying the ecosystems

58
00:02:52.047 --> 00:02:53.257
that we depend on.

59
00:03:07.493 --> 00:03:09.618
The Center for Climate Repair at Cambridge

60
00:03:09.702 --> 00:03:11.601
is working with global partners

61
00:03:11.694 --> 00:03:14.642
on the actions urgently needed to create

62
00:03:14.725 --> 00:03:17.150
a manageable future for humanity.

63
00:03:17.275 --> 00:03:19.220
This involves three Rs.

64
00:03:19.322 --> 00:03:21.183
We need to Reduce emissions

65
00:03:21.266 --> 00:03:22.564
deeply and rapidly.

66
00:03:22.658 --> 00:03:25.621
We need to Remove excess greenhouse gasses

67
00:03:25.705 --> 00:03:26.874
from the atmosphere.

68
00:03:27.025 --> 00:03:28.641
But perhaps the most pressing,

69
00:03:28.708 --> 00:03:31.044
we need to Refreeze the Arctic

70
00:03:31.150 --> 00:03:33.837
to buy time to enable us to manage

71
00:03:33.922 --> 00:03:35.757
those two first Rs.

72
00:03:36.072 --> 00:03:39.142
Now, how could we refreeze the Arctic?

73
00:03:39.236 --> 00:03:42.013
The most promising method in our view

74
00:03:42.097 --> 00:03:44.433
is to cool the Arctic Circle region

75
00:03:44.525 --> 00:03:46.985
during the polar summer by a method

76
00:03:47.069 --> 00:03:49.704
involving white cloud cover

77
00:03:49.788 --> 00:03:51.251
over the Arctic Circle

78
00:03:51.314 --> 00:03:54.276
during the three polar summer months.

79
00:03:54.359 --> 00:03:56.301
This would reflect sunlight

80
00:03:56.384 --> 00:03:58.033
away from the ice layer

81
00:03:58.220 --> 00:03:59.696
formed over the Arctic Sea

82
00:03:59.781 --> 00:04:01.241
during the polar winter

83
00:04:01.493 --> 00:04:03.424
with year-on-year growth

84
00:04:03.507 --> 00:04:05.439
of the last ice layer.

85
00:04:05.751 --> 00:04:08.455
A marine engineer, Stephen Salter,

86
00:04:08.538 --> 00:04:10.759
has designed a marine vessel

87
00:04:11.040 --> 00:04:13.798
which could create white clouds.

88
00:04:14.212 --> 00:04:16.687
This imitates the natural process

89
00:04:16.770 --> 00:04:20.009
that occurs when waves break over the ocean

90
00:04:20.228 --> 00:04:23.236
creating tiny droplets of sea water,

91
00:04:23.319 --> 00:04:26.837
which can be carried upwards by warm wind.

92
00:04:26.970 --> 00:04:29.157
As they travel up, each droplet

93
00:04:29.227 --> 00:04:31.355
loses water as vapor,

94
00:04:31.429 --> 00:04:33.758
leaving a salt crystal so small,

95
00:04:33.841 --> 00:04:34.985
it is invisible,

96
00:04:35.069 --> 00:04:37.040
less than a micron in diameter.

97
00:04:37.236 --> 00:04:39.175
A cloud of these salt crystals

98
00:04:39.258 --> 00:04:41.595
then hovers in the upper atmosphere,

99
00:04:41.829 --> 00:04:45.290
and each crystal again attracts water vapor

100
00:04:45.376 --> 00:04:47.861
to recreate a tiny droplet.

101
00:04:48.017 --> 00:04:50.462
The accumulation of tiny droplets

102
00:04:50.540 --> 00:04:53.043
forms a white, bright cloud.

103
00:04:53.236 --> 00:04:55.983
However, we also need to produce

104
00:04:56.066 --> 00:04:58.814
the tiny droplets of water at scale.

105
00:04:58.939 --> 00:05:00.612
A vast number of tiny droplets

106
00:05:00.695 --> 00:05:02.368
of water need to be generated,

107
00:05:02.454 --> 00:05:05.096
and without using energy input

108
00:05:05.180 --> 00:05:07.224
that would be just as damaging

109
00:05:07.327 --> 00:05:09.938
as the normal processes of global warming.

110
00:05:10.022 --> 00:05:11.873
This is a very clever design

111
00:05:11.956 --> 00:05:14.079
in which the energy is picked up

112
00:05:14.165 --> 00:05:16.504
from the motion of the water currents

113
00:05:16.587 --> 00:05:17.704
and from the wind.

114
00:05:17.798 --> 00:05:19.216
And so, potentially,

115
00:05:19.299 --> 00:05:21.009
all of the energy needed

116
00:05:21.103 --> 00:05:22.056
can be obtained

117
00:05:22.139 --> 00:05:24.087
from these renewable sources.

118
00:05:24.564 --> 00:05:28.035
We would need 500 to 1,000 vessels

119
00:05:28.119 --> 00:05:29.246
around the Arctic

120
00:05:29.517 --> 00:05:31.173
operated remotely

121
00:05:31.373 --> 00:05:33.750
in the three polar summer months.

122
00:05:39.798 --> 00:05:43.023
We’re faced with this enormous challenge

123
00:05:43.301 --> 00:05:45.596
that we’ve all created for ourselves.

124
00:05:45.970 --> 00:05:49.890
Somehow, I feel what could emerge

125
00:05:50.308 --> 00:05:52.269
is a better understanding

126
00:05:52.335 --> 00:05:55.079
between nations as we all deal

127
00:05:55.162 --> 00:05:57.072
with a common threat.

128
00:05:58.066 --> 00:05:59.764
What we’re trying to do

129
00:05:59.848 --> 00:06:04.197
is return the earth to a livable planet.