Can the IPCC synthesis report generate support?

For those of you who did not see it, the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released its latest “Synthesis Report,” a new report that said that the time is now for action to correct the environmental issues that the global economies currently face.  It was their strongest admonition and one in which they said is already “irreversible” – and if policymakers don’t act, a dangerous 2 degrees Celsius warming threshold will be breached.  In the last several months, I have taken four massive open online courses (MOOC) by renown professors at top-notch universities (see below), each of the courses have echoed the same message, but more subtly. 

Our Energy Future, Prof. Stephen Mayfield et al., University of California, San Diego;

Fundamentals of Global Energy Business, Prof. Michael J. Orlando, University of Colorado, Boulder;

Wheels of Metals: Urban Mining for a Circular Economy, Prof. Ester van der Voet et al., Universiteit Leiden and;

The Age of Sustainable Development, Prof. Jeffrey Sachs, Columbia University.

What is interesting about the messages from a collective perspective, is that they can be traced back to the IPCC reports.  They messages are derived from the sharing of data; whether it is carbon dioxide emissions by OECD countries relative to developing countries; carbon footprints on a per capita basis; energy use, data produced by both the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) and the International Energy Agency (IEA); and recycling.  What was even more interesting was the same uses of terms and phrases of these threads throughout the video lectures, which were watched by tens of thousands of students from many countries.  For instance, The Our Energy Future course was watched by 15,000 students from 170 countries.  So, these concepts, terms and phrases are being widely and thoroughly disseminated.  This global reach to all of these students will become the new, more educated environmental movement.  They will help deliver the IPCC message.

Another common theme in each of these courses and is that natural resources, which include conventional energy (natural gas and petroleum) and all mining operations (sand and gravel, base metals, coal, uranium, rare earth metals – required in all green technology, and precious metals), deplete and require additional exploration to increase reserves (underground stocks or inventory).  But due to falling metal concentrations (naturally occurring), remoteness and falling reserves (based on economic extraction costs), attempting to increase production to match demand is becoming increasing more difficult and expensive.  From the recycling perspective, the recycling rates around the world will have to increase from current levels, both to meet demand for metals and materials and reduce landfill waste.

To offset these falling trends, changes will need to be made.  We will need to increase our recycling rates for all metals and materials.  We will need to reduce energy consumption or be more thoughtful and efficient with its use.  What is also clear is that metals will still come from primary production (natural resource production coming from earth) and supplemented with secondary production (recycling).  Primary energy production will be supplemented with renewable energy.  Consumption will be more efficient with new LED lighting technology, energy star appliances, higher R-values of homes, water savings technologies and a basic rethink on design in particular.  This will be an impactful next decade.