Climate Change (Audio)

Sometimes, trying to make things better actually makes them worse. If only a few people use apps to evade traffic snarls, everything works, but as more and more drivers tap on navigation apps for the fastest route around the freeway crawl, they often slow things down. They create new congestion -- at freeway exits and on streets not designed for heavy traffic. Berkeley’s Alexandre Bayen is working to devise policy and technologies that help app makers work collaboratively with city planners. Series: "Cal Future Forum: Our Changing World" [Science] [Show ID: 33081]

Today, we need to make intelligent management decisions about how we are going to manage our planet. Fortunately, powerful computing technologies now allows us to see with clarity what lies ahead, and to make informed choices about what path to take. We forecast a 20 percent decline in global income by the end of the century. And the most intense economic losses will be experienced in places where it is already hot and economies are already stressed. The vast brunt of the global economic burden will be borne by the poorest 60 percent of people around the world, widening global economic inequality. Our challenge is to use our unprecedented access to data analysis and information technologies to make truly informed decisions about the world we want to live in and leave for Series: "UC Public Policy Channel" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 33084]

Plants have evolved the capability to convert atmospheric CO2 into biopolymers and therefore represent distributed systems for carbon removal that are highly scalable. Wolfgang Busch, Ph.D., Associate Professor Plant Molecular and Cellular Biology Laboratory, Salk Institute, explains the possibilities of efficient carbon storage in plants. Series: "Exploring Ethics" [Science] [Show ID: 33883]

Since we don’t yet know how fast and how high sea levels are going to rise, Berkeley urban designer Kristina Hill stresses that our strategies must be ready and be adaptive as conditions change. Rising seas pose multiple dangers. Groundwater rises on top of sea level causing inland flooding. What can we do to prepare? Kristina Hill says a fundamental principle of landscape architecture -- "dig a hole, make a mound” -- offers a time-tested strategy. Series: "Climate Solutions " [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 33070]

Bending the threatening trajectory of global climate change surely seems daunting. Max Auffhammer argues that a single powerful tool can generate major change worldwide: price incentives. His focus is the social cost of carbon -- an estimate, expressed in dollars and cents, of the damage that one ton of CO2 emitted into the atmosphere has on the entire globe. This is a number that governments should use to evaluate the benefits and costs of new regulations that affect greenhouse gas emissions. Series: "Cal Future Forum: Our Changing World" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 33073]

Plants have evolved the capability to convert atmospheric CO2 into biopolymers and therefore represent distributed systems for carbon removal that are highly scalable. Wolfgang Busch, Ph.D., Associate Professor Plant Molecular and Cellular Biology Laboratory, Salk Institute, explains the possibilities of efficient carbon storage in plants. Series: "Exploring Ethics" [Show ID: 33883]

As of May, 2017, about 90 percent of all countries around the world have committed to the ambitious Paris Agreement to combat global climate change. But how to confirm that countries are maintaining their pledges, and how can they be encouraged to do better than their pledges? Berkeley climate modeler Inez Fung is part of an international scientific team refining the detection skills of the new Orbiting Carbon Observatory 2, launched in 2014. Series: "Cal Future Forum: Our Changing World" [Science] [Show ID: 33069]

Fossil fuels have powered economic growth and improved quality of life for more than two centuries – and for good reason. They can store a great deal of energy, and it can be used any time. The challenge for the scientific community is how to gain flexibility from renewable sources. Ravi Prasher and his colleagues have pioneered efforts to use computing power to discover new materials. His group then synthesizes the materials, and finally makes devices to test in the real world. He stresses that researchers are doing what they must: moving toward a future when we can assure steady, flexible, economical clean energy. Series: "Cal Future Forum: Our Changing World" [Science] [Show ID: 33079]

Our homes and buildings consume huge amounts of energy – up to 40 percent of all energy use in the US. Research at Berkeley Lab has greatly boosted energy efficiency in buildings but the challenge now is not just how much energy we use, but when we use it. We need to shift loads to times when there are plenty of renewables in our electric system, and reduce load at other times of the day. New technologies will get our energy production and our energy consumption talking to each other. Series: "Cal Future Forum: Our Changing World" [Science] [Show ID: 33078]

As humankind faces massive changes in weather patterns, sea level, ocean acidity, and oxygen levels, Scripps Oceanography has launched a new center focused on understanding and adapting to the impacts of climate change. Mark Merrifield, Director of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography Center for Climate Change Impacts and Adaptations explains how the members of this dynamic network will develop strategies for climate change adaptation. Series: "Jeffrey B. Graham Perspectives on Ocean Science Lecture Series" [Science] [Show ID: 33720]