Tag: Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

Chemical engineering (and other) highlights of 2014 (Day 223)

Once the dust has settled after the merriment and celebration of welcoming in the New Year, it’s only natural to reflect on the year that has passed. 2014 was a great year for me, full of new experiences and meeting new people, which obviously includes a lot of chemical engineers, through my role as IChemE president.

So, on reflection, I’d like to share with you my personal and professional chemical engineering highlights of 2014.

1. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) Synthesis Report

Polar bearThe issue of climate change has been top of my agenda for some time, and communicating across the seriousness and urgency needed by our global society to mitigate the effects has been a personal mission of mine.

So, you can imagine my delight when the IPCC published their Synthesis Report.

After all, ‘It’s not just the polar bears at risk‘. The report dismissed the conspiracy that climate change isn’t happening, it is real and we need to do something about it, and fast!

Continue reading Chemical engineering (and other) highlights of 2014 (Day 223)

It’s not just the polar bears at risk (Day 163)

Polar bearA common image of mankind’s influence on our planet is to show its impact on nature and wildlife.

In relation to climate change, the plight of the polar bear is often highlighted. But should that image now include humans?

By the end of the century it may be a reality – certainly the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) think so.

In my role as a professor of energy engineering and my previous stern warnings about our dangerously low rate of progress in reducing carbon emissions, you can imagine that I had been eagerly anticipating last Sunday’s release of the IPCC’s Synthesis Report.

Continue reading It’s not just the polar bears at risk (Day 163)