Physics Club - Wolfgang Bauer - Michigan State University

Climate Apocalypse: The Gamble with All Life on Earth, and How to Avoid Taking It

 Earth’s climate is under two distinct, but coupled threats: modification of our atmosphere’s emissivity and reduction of the Earth’s albedo. We will see how these can lead to exponential rise of Earth’s surface temperature and potentially cause our atmosphere to spiral into a Venus-like climate apocalypse. The primary cause of this existential threat is the combustion of fossil fuels. The second part of this presentation covers how much it will cost to eliminate fossil fuel use for energy production, and how quickly we can expect to amortize this investment.

Host: John Harris

(This event will not have a livestream.  However a recording will be made available)