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Tipping positive change to avoid climate tipping points
Wednesday 7th February 2024.
At 19.30
Meeting opens 10 minutes before.
Zoom link available to members
Prof. Tim Lenton, Exeter University.
Tipping points in climate science normally refer to small changes in the Earth system that unleash much broader, typically damaging impacts that accelerate climate change. Well-known examples are rising sea levels due to disintegration of the Greenland and West Antarctic ice sheets, or the release of methane from the thawing permafrost. They help to underline the urgency of climate action. Today most people understand we must reduce emissions – and very quickly.
This evening Tim will summarise recent evidence regarding climate tipping points, which supports declarations that we are in a ‘climate emergency’. Then he will turn to identifying positive social tipping points that will need to be triggered to have any hope of limiting global warming to well below 2C.
Tim Lenton is Chair in Climate Change and Earth System Science at Exeter University. His 25 years of research includes developing models to understand the Earth’s behaviour. He co-authored the “Planetary Boundaries” framework and is renowned for his work identifying climate tipping points. He won the European Geosciences Union Outstanding Young Scientist Award in
2006 and subsequently many other prestigious awards. He is in the top 100 Reuters “Hot List” of the worlds top climate scientists so is good at communicating his extensive knowledge.
Social Meeting 2024
Ballantrea Weekend Excursion & Summer Events Outline
The Snowball Earth Theory of Global Glaciation
Date: 20th December
Time: 13:00
Speaker: Michael Hambrey, Emeritus Professor of Glaciology, Aberystwyth
Mike Hambrey, one of our members is giving a talk on Snowball Earth to the Intellectual Property Office in Newport, South Wales, and they are happy to invite other groups along. If any members are interested, they may like to follow the link below and register with Microsoft Teams. They will then get reminders nearer the time.
The talk is designed for people with a general science background, rather than geologists, but he will be focussing on the geological fieldwork he has done in Svalbard, East Greenland and Scotland.
Clive Boulter
We are sad to inform you of the sudden death of Clive Boulter on Saturday 7 January. He had a heart attack while out walking and died the following day in hospital with his family around him. Clive was an expert on Lake District geology who generously shared knowledge and expertise. He guided field trips, gave talks, wrote articles and gave workshops. Many of us will have benefitted from his help and been inspired by his enthusiasm.
The funeral is likely to be in the week commencing 23 January. If you wish to attend please email the Boulter family on Clive’s email address email hidden; JavaScript is required so they have an indication of likely numbers.