34 | SCIENCE ILLUSTRATED
actively remove carbon dioxide from the
atmosphere if we wish to avoid a tempera-
ture increase beyond 1.5 degrees. Several
ground-breaking methods are now being
tested around the world, but it remains
unclear if they are sufficiently efficient to
solve the problem. Luckily, another solution
exists that we can implement right away:
tree planting.
In 2017, scientists concluded that the
re-establishment of former forests and
forest protection could remove more than
7 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide from the
atmosphere annually – more than all the
emissions of North America. And the
number could be more than twice as high if
we are willing to change our eating habits.
An American study shows that Americans’
present food consumption requires almost
eight times as much farmland as a vege-
tarian diet. Beef is the major culprit, as it
requires 28 times as much land as chicken.
The transition to a diet without beef will
become ever easier thanks to technological
advances in the food industry. New plant-
based minced ‘meat’ developed by American
company Impossible Foods in 2019 attracted
much attention during one of the biggest
technology conferences in the US. The fake
meat smells, tastes and feels like real minced
meat, because the company has identified
the proteins that give meat its smell, taste,
and texture, then found comparable proteins
in the plant kingdom. Moreover, the company
uses genetically modified yeast to make
some of the proteins.Effort would save trillions
The world of 2099 will be markedly different
from the present, no matter what we do. But
if we focus on green energy, sustainable
building materials and new food now, we
can create a future in which we live on our
own terms. Global warming will probably
continue for a period of time even if we do
our utmost – the world’s average temperature
will rise by 0.5 of a degree, and parts of the
Arctic will experience a rise above 3 degrees.
But the alternative is a future in which the
climate is so extreme that we constantly
struggle – a costly affair. When American
scientists in 2018 calculated how much the
US would save in the late 2000s if we focused
on green technology and lowered the number
of extreme weather phenomena, the result
came out at US$224 trillion a year.Lasers to save your flight
Tiny holes in the road, white rails and lasers could ensure that we can
continue to go from one place to another in spite of climate challenges.Roads that can swallow
flooding events
Ordinary asphalt is dense, so
all water has to be removed via
gratings at the side of the road. Several
companies are developing road paving
with linked pores that allow the rainwater
to pass through and then drain away.White rails keep
out the heat
Rail tracks expand and bend in
the heat. A simple solution is to
paint the rails white, so the heat is kept
out. Moreover, some rail types have
flexible connecting links that make
sure the rails will not bend.TRAN
SPOR
T
Extreme climate
obstructs transport
A climate with extreme
precipitation, higher
temperatures and severe
storms causes problems for
all types of transport. Major
water masses flood the roads,
the heat makes rail tracks
crooked, and an unstable
atmosphere multiplies
the risk of violent
turbulence.Cars to be powered
by green energy
In Australia, transportation was
responsible for 18% of total
greenhouse emissions in 2018;
in Europe the figure is 30%.
Cars are the worst – Australian
cars emit roughly the same per
year as Queensland’s entire coal
and gas-fired electricity supply.
In order to reduce emissions, our
cars must consume less energy
and use climate-friendly energy
sources – preferably without the
use of polluting batteries.SHU
TTE
RST
OCKTHE(^) AG
E/G
ETT
Y (^) IM
AGE
S
CHALLENGE
CHALLENGE
NATURE CLIMATE