Can we cool a warming world?

These questions are part of an extensive series of discussions, talks and workshops featuring climate experts: Cambridge Zero Director Professor Emily Shuckburgh; Professor Sarah Bridle, author of Food and Climate Change without the Hot Air; Gaia Vince, an award-winning science journalist, author, broadcaster and speaker; and Laura Diaz Anadon, a Lead Author of the IPCC Working Group III on Mitigating Climate Change.

Coordinated by the University of Cambridge, the Festival, which runs from 17 March until 2 April, is teeming with over 360 mostly free events. Subjects range from climate change and health to politics and technology.

Several high-level panel discussions and talks consider the critical issues we are facing in terms of climate change, including HOW SHOULD WE MANAGE OUR FUTURE AS THE GLOBAL TEMPERATURE RISES BEYOND THE AGREED SAFE LIMIT OF 1.5C? (17 March). Gaia Vince, an award-winning science journalist, author, broadcaster and speaker, and environmentalist Sir Jonathan Porritt, discuss their deep concerns about climate refugees and climate migration given that 1.5C is now unattainable. Jonathan believes that this will lead to massive political and economic problems. Gaia focuses on her recent book, Nomad Century: How to Survive the Climate Upheaval, an urgent investigation of the most underreported, seismic consequence of climate change: how it will force us to change where - and how - we live. The book describes global adaptation of energy, food, infrastructure.

With global temperatures rising, what can we do to cool our planet? What else do we need to look at beyond reducing emissions? In CAN WE COOL A WARMING WORLD? (24 March), experts explore options for removing greenhouse gases from the atmosphere, discussing both nature-based and engineering-based approaches, including ideas that could potentially enable us to refreeze the polar regions. They ask whether it’s time for us to look again at more radical and controversial solutions.

Dr Shaun Fitzgerald, Director of Research in the Centre for Climate Repair at Cambridge, reveals some of the challenges associated with solar radiation management, such as Marine Cloud Brightening and Ice Volcanoes – a relatively new idea that involves pumping sea water on top of sea ice to get more sea ice to form in the Arctic winter. There are many questions as to whether this is a good or a bad idea. Does it in fact make things even worse? Or could it lead to more ice forming in the winter, and therefore a reduction in rate of loss of Arctic sea ice? Ilona Mettiäinen, an Arctic researcher from the University of Lapland looks at governance. While Alice Wells from the University of Exeter focuses on the impact of Stratospheric Aerosol Injection – a controversial proposal to blunt global warming by depositing sulphur particles into the upper atmosphere. 

Dr Fitzgerald said: “The rate of change in our climate system we are now seeing compared with the rate of progress to reduce emissions is very alarming. Even though we know we need to get emissions down as quickly as possible, our progress has been too slow, and we are still increasing our emissions rather than decreasing them. Therefore, we need to consider what options there may be to help buy us time to get our emissions and greenhouse gas levels down to a manageable level. The reason is that we need to preserve the Artic unless we are prepared to see even more serious change. But it is unclear how we could do that, and whether such potential interventions could lead to yet even more disastrous effects. We therefore need to progress research on various ideas urgently but do so being led by those who are going to be most affected by the effects of climate change and least able to adapt.”

The rising global population is another major cause for concern. UN projections show the global population reaching 11 billion and the world economy growing 500% by the end of this century. Can the planet accommodate 3 billion more people when our current ecological footprint already exceeds Earth’s biocapacity? Paul Hanley, journalist and author of the award-winning book ELEVEN considers how we got into this predicament and maps a way forward during his talk, ‘ELEVEN’: THE RISING GLOBAL POPULATION AND THE FUTURE OF HUMANITY (29 March, online).

Food is also an issue and not just because of the growing population. Three events take an in depth look at the solutions. In FOOD, GLORIOUS FOOD: HOW TO AVOID WASTING IT (22 March). Dr Cathrine Jansson-Boyd, consumer psychologist from Anglia Ruskin University, looks at why people waste food and what can be done to reduce food waste.

In WHAT’S FOR DINNER? THE FUTURE OF MEAT (22 March, online), a panel asks, should the future be meat-free, or could properly managed livestock be part of the solution? They discuss the future of meat and consider the alternatives, from pulses and plant-based protein to lab-grown meat, molluscs and edible insects. Chaired by Professor Sarah Bridle, author of Food and Climate Change without the Hot Air, with speakers from the University of Cambridge including Professor Andrew Balmford, Dr Charlotte Kukowski and Dr Daniel Borch Ibsen.

In HOW CAN WE IMPROVE OUR FOOD SECURITY? (27 March), experts address the practical and political problems around food security and look to what history can teach us. Speakers include Professor Tim Lang, a former consultant to the WHO and the UN, and a special advisor to four House of Commons Select Committee inquiries.

Academics, activists and educators continue to call for new forms of climate education. But the issue remains as to what shape these new forms need to take considering the underlying urgency and eco-anxiety among the younger population. In HOW CAN EDUCATION HELP YOUNG PEOPLE COPE WITH AND COMMUNICATE ABOUT CLIMATE CHANGE? (21 March), panellists discuss their experiences working in different countries, such as South Africa, the Himalayas, Uganda and Mexico, and what approaches they have taken/are taking to ensure education meets the needs of young people facing climate change in their everyday lives. Speakers from the University of Cambridge include activist Dr Mary Murphy, who specialises in environmental education; social and economic geographer Dr Anna Barford, who is currently researching how work and livelihoods intersect with environmental problems and solutions; and social anthropologist, Dr Hildegard Diemberger.

Young people are also part of the focus for the next event, CLIMATE CHANGE: FROM DESPAIR TO ACTION (30 March). In this discussion, the panellists ask: Can our political structures adapt to the pace of climate change? How can we better confront climate misinformation around the world? What role can technology play? And how can we educate young people for the challenges to come? With Professor Laura Diaz Anadon, a Lead Author of the IPCC Working Group III on Mitigating Climate Change; Professor Peter Sutoris, an environmental anthropologist and author of Educating for the Anthropocene (Nov 2022); Samira Patel, a PhD student in Polar Studies at the University of Cambridge; and Dr Ramit Debnath, the inaugural Cambridge Zero Fellow. The event chair is Professor Emily Shuckburgh, Director of Cambridge Zero.

The Cambridge Festival also coincides with a major interdisciplinary conference in Cambridge, OWNED BY EVERYONE? – CHALK STREAMS IN CULTURE AND CRISIS (30 March), on the culture, science and future of chalk streams, featuring conservationists, environmental and literary historians, NGOs, regulators, water companies, politicians and community groups. Speakers at this event, which is the conference’s one public session, include Amy-Jane Beer, Tom Fort, Nigel Kinnings, James Murray-White, Adam Nicolson, David Profumo and Mark Wormald. As well as short readings from Charles Kingsley, Ted Hughes and the writers on the panel, we hope to screen extracts from the 2018 film about the Mel Brook, Waterlight.

The Cambridgeshire Fens produce 33% of England’s vegetables and contribute over £3bn to the economy.  However, the Fens are facing threats from climate change, availability of water, and the peat soil becoming exhausted and emitting carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Can the decline of peat be stopped while allowing food production to continue? Where will the water come from? What role might natural habitats play in regenerating the landscape? In WHAT DOES THE FUTURE HOLD FOR THE CAMBRIDGESHIRE FENS? (1 April), a panel of experts from research and farming discuss the challenges and opportunities facing the Fens.  Speakers include Megan Hudson, General Manager of FenlandSOIL; Dr Laurie Friday, Research Programme Manager for the Centre for Landscape Regeneration; Tom Marquand, PhD student from the Dept of Earth Sciences, University of Cambridge; and Professor David Coomes, University of Cambridge Conservation Research Institute (CRI) Director and Co-Director for the Centre for Landscape Regeneration. The event Chair is Elizabeth Stockdale, Head of Farming Systems Research, NIAB.

And finally, as part of the Festival’s climate change and environment series, there are also several workshops that deal with everything from what the future could look like in 2045 and the creation of new policies, to ways to reduce our personal emissions when it comes to consumption and sustainable lifestyles.

For these and other related events, please visit the festival website and search under the Environment theme for further information and to book seats: www.festival.cam.ac.uk