On this special episode of the show, host聽聽and environment reporter Madeleine Cuff chat with climate scientist Tim Lenton of the University of Exeter.
Tim has just contributed to a research paper that suggested聽governments could trigger a mass shift to plant-based diets, simply by serving more vegan burgers in schools and hospitals. We discuss with Tim the power of leveraging so-called positive tipping points to bring about large-scale change.
Topics in a wide-ranging and fascinating discussion include:聽green hydrogen, better聽fuel for ships,听James Lovelock听补苍诲听negative tipping points. These are processes such as the聽drying of the Amazon rainforest聽or the melting of the Western Antarctic ice shelf, that, if triggered, would become irreversible and self-perpetuating and that would certainly speed up climate change. One such tipping point that Tim highlights is the聽Atlantic ocean conveyor belt, and in particular, the deep convection in the Labrador Sea. If the tipping point for this is reached, and models suggest it could happen at the warming we are now seeing, then Europe would shift to a far more seasonal climate, with extremes in both winter and summer.
To read about these subjects and much more, you can subscribe to New 杏吧原创 magazine at newscientist.com.
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