In this episode, Mike Ferrigan and Vanessa Blakeslee have a conversation with Peter Wadhams, professor of Ocean Physics, and (former?) Head of the Polar Ocean Physics Group in the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, University of Cambridge. He is best known for his work on the Arctic sea ice and has carried out numerous expeditions to the Arctic. He has been very vocal in his call for action to mitigate both Arctic sea ice loss and climate change. Like the rest of us, Professor Wadhams is currently in lockdown at his home in Turin, Northern Italy, in one of the epicentres of the Coronavirus pandemic as it rages through Italy.
The topics covered in this conversation:
– the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic and the light it sheds on the nature of Exponential Growth; Self-Isolation
– Arctic Ice, Black Ice (ice melting, leaving behind mud), the imminent Blue Ocean Event
– the Aerosol Masking Effect at a time of rapid down-scaling of industrial activity, the implications on global average temperature
– Methane, Negative Emissions Technology
– the Economy/Capitalism/Green New Deal.
Video version:
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