Critical changes in the Earth's climate over the next 100 years: global warming was discussed in the National Centre RUSSIA
On July 17, an expert dialogue on the climate of the future, trends and technological capabilities of humanity took place at the National Centre RUSSIA. The meeting was a followup of the cycle "Dialogues About the Future", moderated by Director General of VTSIOM Valery Fedorov.
The event, organized by the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation and VTsIOM, is part of a large-scale preparation for the II International Symposium "Inventing the Future". It will be held at the National Centre RUSSIA on October 7-8.
The experts of the meeting were: Evgeny Kuznetsov, futurologist, co-founder of the "Orbita Capital Partners" venture fund, representative of Singularity University, and Alexander Rodin, Executive Director of Research and Technical Centre for Environmental Monitoring and Ecology at MIPT.
The dialogue set the tone for discussion of the most pressing environmental challenges of our time, and was devoted to the study of key climate changes.
Valery Fedorov, Director General of VTsIOM, stressed that the changes which are taking place now will entail the development of completely new approaches in all spheres of human activity, from urban planning to job creation in difficult regions of the Earth.
"We can reliably predict changes for the next century. The global average temperature will definitely rise. The green mass will continue to grow in certain regions of the planet. At the same time, an increase in the level of the world's oceans by even 10 centimeters will be a problem for a huge number of people on the planet. On the one hand, yes, we will suffer from catastrophic events. This means that it is urgently necessary to introduce changes to the SNiPs (Construction Norms and Regulations), and build a new infrastructure. Permafrost, for example, will melt very quickly. The Arctic Ocean will be cleared of centuries-old ice, and only the annual ice will remain," Valery Fedorov said at the opening of the meeting.
During the discussion, special attention was paid to the analysis of modern scientific data, according to which humanity may face unprecedented challenges by the middle of the 21st century.
According to VTsIOM, 23% of respondents are confident that global warming will lead to catastrophic consequences for the entire Earth. 22% of respondents found it difficult to answer this question. 21% of the study participants believe that as a result of global warming, the climate will worsen only in some regions of the planet. In turn, 19% of respondents expressed confidence that under the influence of warming the climate will improve in some regions of the Earth.
According to climatologist Alexander Rodin, climate change is a natural process that should not lead to critical consequences in the next 100 years.
"I don't consider climate change a threat. This is a natural process that has occurred throughout the history of our planet. Climate change is really happening, it is related to the burning of fossil fuels. The fact that the greenhouse effect exists is also an absolutely scientific fact. If it didn't exist, we wouldn't be living in such comfort, because the average temperature of our planet would be below zero. But humanity began to emit excessive amounts of carbon dioxide. It is necessary to adapt to these changes both regionally and globally," emphasized Alexander Rodin.
Another topic of discussion was the technological possibilities of climate management. The participants of the dialogue discussed the need to develop clear international standards in the field of geoengineering, as well as disaster modeling and forecasting. Special attention was paid to Russia's role in shaping the global climate agenda and the need to develop its own scientific and technological solutions in this area.
"The climate debate from a social point of view is turning into one of the most complex scientific projects in the history of mankind. That's so because almost all sciences are involved in the discussion — physics, chemistry, geology, biology, as well as socio-political disciplines. As a result, it is almost impossible to accurately model both the climate and its consequences by methods and tools of a single science. By the way, this is one of the main problems why the climate debate is so difficult in Russia. Because very often people from the point of view of just one narrow discipline look at the situation and do not see this picture as a whole. And from the point of view of purely scientific organization, climate analysis represents one of the greatest scientific tasks in history," said Evgeny Kuznetsov.
Finishing up the discussion, the participants came to the conclusion that climate change requires a fundamentally new approach: a combination of advanced technologies with a deep philosophical understanding of man's place in nature. According to experts, such dialogues in the National Centre RUSSIA are becoming an important platform for developing strategic decisions. These decisions will determine not just the future of our country, but of the entire planet.
Information about the following discussions to be held as part of preparation for the symposium "Inventing the Future" can be viewed on the website of the National Centre RUSSIA in the "Events" section.
Event photobank
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