Spending time this year helping my eldest daughter revise for her biology, physics and chemistry GCSEs has rekindled my interest in basic scientific principles.
One that crosses over all disciplines and came up repeatedly in the revision notes is photosynthesis. It is such a fundamental process in our daily lives and sits at the heart of the climate change challenges we are facing increasingly as our CO2 emissions continue to climb to ever more unpredictable and potentially dangerous levels.
This week a new report highlights that European forests are reaching saturation point as efficient CO2 sinks and calls on governments and forestry commissions to recognise the issue and take appropriate action. This is yet another scenario that highlights the complexity of climate change science but also prompts some to take a pessimistic view on the future, particularly on matters where politics are involved.
One recent view that created a lot of commentary and debate is that of Professor Stephen Emmott whose short but blunt book 10 Billion has clearly polarised opinion. I was inclined to take notice of his views as the area of research his laboratory focuses on is artificial photosynthesis and the more I understand about this, the more it looks like one of the better potential answers to climate change challenges.
Beyond 2020 Visions ... 