52. Re-icing the Arctic to Slow Tipping Points and Climate Change

Today we'll learn about an organization called Real Ice. Climate change, caused by anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions, could cause the global temperature to increase by several degrees by the end of the century, precipitating climate tipping points with serious consequences. The solution to this problem is to cease the burning of fossil fuels and to eliminate excess greenhouse gasses from the atmosphere. However, lowering atmospheric greenhouse gas levels – even under the most aggressive scenarios – may not happen fast enough to prevent the onset of tipping points. Such reasoning has led to proposals for methods to actively cool the Earth in order to buy time to decarbonize, and there has been considerable debate around the risks and benefits of these various methods. Sea ice thickening is one of these methods that aims at slowing or reversing the decline of Arctic sea ice through sea water pump by enhancing its natural formation and thickening. Our speaker, Pascal Martin-Daguet, is a civil engineer from France who has spent over three decades as a project manager on large and complex construction projects over the world and especially in Asia. Pascal has specialized in what some would call "impossible projects," working to solve problems with sustainability in mind. Pascal has lived in twelve different countries and believes that diversity in all its forms is what makes human societies rich and strong. He believes that we need to rethink and rebuild human societies so that life can continue to thrive, and he’s fully engaged in that challenge. Additionally, he was an active member of the Rotary Clubs of Penang in Malaysia and of Vladivostok in Russia.