Our old changing climate, the new virus, you, and me

From the end of the 20^th century to the beginning of the 21^st– century climate change seemed to be in the thoughts of every person on the planet. Back in the late 1970s, when the ozone depletion in the Earth´s atmosphere was observed, scientists began to realize that life on Earth could be dramatically jeopardized. Negative effects on human life were made aware, and they are still extensively studied⁽¹⁾. Life was shown to be threatened by climate change, but the immediate effects were not explicitly felt until many years later.

In our today’s life, the Covid-19 virus showed us in a matter of months our fear of extinction and gave us a lot of thought about our own fragility as species.

Humanity has endured many risks from wars to chemical-engineered weapons, but even when surviving natural catastrophic weather changes due to climate change or natural geological processes, humans can thrive⁽²⁾, adapt, and change. But what happens when both, climate change and the threat of a virus, are intertwined? 

What do we do?

How do we react?

Also, where is the link for the use of science on solving the conundrum placed here about climate change and Covid-19?

Here it is:

First: Science and Education

If we want to fix our current existential risk in terms of fear of extinction, we have to deal with these challenges together to stay around. The risk that we pose to ourselves is probably higher than the predictability of staying around for giving- or take (less, or maybe more) one million years by natural extinction rate.

Solution: education and science intertwined in both topics, could build a path for future generations and the understanding of both topics without fears.

The beginning of a massive investment of knowledge could be an excellent start for accelerating a positive change and erase the skepticism towards science (e.g., climate science denial) highlighted during the climate change era and the newly covid-19 year⁽³⁾.

But how do we do it?

Here are some thoughts:

We can start on making less visible boundaries among sciences, and be more integrative among disciplines. Interfaces among research fields are now more common than ever, and many possibilities lay ahead to be discovered. Some emerging disciplines that are the result of the merge of unique fields of science seem to be quite interesting, like:

• Energy, Climate Change, and Health. 

The idea of the interdisciplinary⁽⁴⁾ research of these three fields seems not to be as new⁽⁵⁾ as one can think, but the perspective and challenges are. Newly formed research groups linking medical and climate research institutions might open new science investigative frontiers. As we open more our eyes to the impact that fossil fuel-related contamination have on human mortality, more geoscientists and climatologists are linking their research to explain human pandemics and human tolerance to temperature variabilities.  

• Paleovirology, Geoscience, and Medicine.

Ancient viruses cannot leave distinguishable physical fossils, and studies rely on signatures left within their host cells, and limited remnants in host genomes (e.g., retroviruses). However, recent discoveries in the field of geoscience have demystified the probability of finding ancient fossil viruses⁽⁶⁾, by showing their possibility as physical traces, marked by permineralization within bacteria, in ancient rocks⁽⁷⁾. Even, the latter could enhance new interests for developing branches within Earth research fields.

We can teach science on a community level. With the proper knowledge and professionals, science can be imparted on a level to be understood for all. Now more than ever, the basic understanding of a scientific and/or engineering topic (e.g., climate, renewable energy, and medicine) can change lives, and it is becoming more indispensable to comprehend the effects that globalization has over humans, demographics, and politics. Organizations that promote the democratization of science are becoming more popular. And, yes, we learn science at school, universities, and many other sources, but after facing the direct effect of how a virus can undermine our daily life, science cannot be more of a mystery for many.

There is the need to locate an increment of tolerance, acceptance, and inclusion among all of us when we talk about science and engineering matters. Science ignorance cannot be equal to exclusion nor rejection. Also, pioneering and exercising the inclusion of female scientists and engineers could lead to setting a legacy for our children. Women in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) are still a subject of gender biases and gender stereotypes⁽⁸⁾, and not because science now is a centerpiece of discussion means that gender inequalities are less common.

Second: Policies and governance

If we want to guide future generations on the understanding of how to care about our planet, and issues related to the climate problem, then teaching, on all school levels, about fossil fuels, renewable energies, recycling, climate change, and sustainable development could be a good start for it. As a result, an empowered generation could emerge for adding purpose, value, and new solutions rapidly to the climate crisis.

Solution: reviewing school curricula for presenting more opportunities to kids.

With the “Generation Greta” the entire world realized that a stronger commitment should be made towards the younger generations. Many decades have been gone since adults have shown how climate change is damaging the environment for animals and plants. However, children and teenagers stepped up as young adults for showing that they are vulnerable too and that they have solutions by showing their unique and powerful voice. These young climate activists rocked the world when stepping up for all of us by elevating the climate change crisis towards a new level of commitment.

But adults are listening, and here is how:

1. School curricula are under review, organizations around the world are focusing on how to deliver proactively concepts and directions about climate change to younger generations.
2. Politics are delivering a fresh commitment. Our today world faces immense challenges which not only include battling climate change but presenting guidelines and agendas for transforming our world into a better and sustainable place.

Saving the most vulnerable people on earth, as children are, should be a priority.

Third: Ethics and security

If we want to live in a healthy post-pandemic world, then we should care and look at the Earth as an entity to be respected, as the same as we respect our own human body.

Solution: deeply studying and researching the pros- and the cons of technologies like geoengineering or climate engineering.

Why?

Engineering the climate could fire back.

Some ideas are getting researched like “Solar Geoengineering or Solar Radiation Management” which is basically limiting sun´s radiation onto the Earth´s surface for reducing global temperatures. This could serve as a temporary response and could serve to reduce greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere.

Here are some examples:

1. Mirrors in space: the idea of installing special mirrors in outer space for the decrease or increase of the amount of energy that reaches the Earth seems not to be economically feasible. However, the deployment strategy, technology, governance, policies, and the adverse effects on Earth´s life are in continuous research, development, and discussions ^{(9) (10) (11)}.
2. Stratospheric Aerosol Injection (SAI): theoretically, the dispersed release in the atmosphere of tiny reflective particles or aerosols to reflect sunlight back into space could probably cool down the planet and help reverse global warming. Analogs in nature (volcanic eruptions) have proven that global cooling by volcanogenic sulfate aerosols is possible to last several years. Experimentally, there has not been directly executed, however, designed experiments do exist (SCoPEx: Stratospheric Controlled Perturbation Experiment) and probably on the way to be tested in 2021.  

Aftermath

In the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic, we will still live on an Earth with a climate that will not stop changing.

That is: change non-stop.

The goal should be to attain sustainable prosperity for all of us: you, me, and our planet.

Educating and developing diverse new secure technologies could create solutions for managing new climate change adaptation and mitigation ideas for the post-pandemic world. Ethics should be involved in the process. If security is true for the human species, it should be also valid for the planet that encapsulates and care for us.

What if the solution is new technologies like hydrogen or e-fuels (e.g., as future commodities) in order to re-shape the energy market structure? Does that make sense to help us to reach a new sustainable life?

References

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2. Smith, E.; Jacobs, Z.; Johnsen, R.; Minghua, R.; Fisher, E.C.; Oestmo, S.; Wilkins, J.; Harris, J. A.; Panagiotis, K.; Fitch, S.; Ciravolo, A.; Keenan, D.; Cleghorn, N.; Lane, C.S.; Matthews, T.; and Marean, C.W. Humans thrived in South Africa through the Toba eruption about 74,000 years ago. Nature, 555, 511–515 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature25967.
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4. Weart S. Rise of interdisciplinary research on climate. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A, 110 Suppl 1(Suppl 1), 3657-3664 (2013).doi:10.1073/pnas.1107482109.
5. Maxwell, J. and Blashki, G. Teaching About Climate Change in Medical Education: An Opportunity. J Public Health Res, 5(1):673 (2016).doi:10.4081/jphr.2016.673.
6. Tucker, M. Fossil viruses. Geology Today, Volume 36, Issue 4, 156-160 (2020).https://doi.org/10.1111/gto.12321.
7. Perri, E.; Tucker, M. E.; Slowakiewicz, M.; Whitaker, F.; Bowen, L.; and Perrotta, I. Carbonate and silicate biomineralization in a hypersaline microbial mat (Mesaieed sabkha, Qatar): Roles of bacteria, extracellular polymeric substances and viruses. Sedimentology, Volume 5, Issue 4, 1213-1245 (2018).https://doi.org/10.1111/sed.12419.
8. McKinnon, M. and O’Connell, C. Perceptions of stereotypes applied to women who publicly communicate their STEM work. Humanity and Social Science Communication, 7, Article Number 160 (2020).https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-020-00654-0.
9. Lawrence, M.G.; Schäfer, S.; Muri, H.; Scott, V.; Oschlies, A.; Vaughan, N.E.; Boucher, O.; Schmidt, H.; Haywood, J.; and Scheffran, J. Evaluating climate geoengineering proposals in the context of the Paris Agreement temperature goals. Nature Communications, 9, 3734 (2018).https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-05938-3.
10. Boucher, O.; Forster, P.M.; Gruber, N.; Ha‐Duong, M.; Lawrence, M.G.; Lenton, T.M.; Maas, A.; Vaughan, N.E. Rethinking climate engineering categorization in the context of climate change mitigation and adaptation. WIREs Clim Change, 5:23–35 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1002/wcc.261.
11. Schäfer, S.; Lawrence, M.; Stelzer, H.; Born, W.; Low, S.; Aaheim, A.; Adriázola, P.; Betz, G.; Boucher, O.; Carius, A.; Devine-Right, P.; Gullberg, A. T.; Haszeldine, S.; Haywood, J.; Houghton, K.; Ibarrola, R.; Irvine, P.; Kristjansson, J.-E.; Lenton, T.; Link, J. S. A.; Maas, A.; Meyer, L.; Muri, H.; Oschlies, A.; Proelß, A.; Rayner, T.; Rickels, W.; Ruthner, L.; Scheffran, J.; Schmidt, H.; Schulz, M.; Scott, V.; Shackley, S.; Tänzler, D.; Watson, M.; Vaughan, N. The European Transdisciplinary Assessment of Climate Engineering (EuTRACE): Removing Greenhouse Gases from the Atmosphere and Reflecting Sunlight away from Earth (2015). https://www.iass-potsdam.de/sites/default/files/files/eutrace_report_digital_second_edition_0.pdf.