A 50-Year Plan to Survive Climate Change
The world’s energy portfolio will get vastly cleaner by the year 2040 – but not clean enough, says a new long-term energy outlook from Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF).
Why? It seems that fossil fuels will still provide 44% of our power in the projection, as new coal plants come online to provide cheap power in developing nations. The Paris-based International Energy Agency similarly reports the world is on a course to miss the widely-accepted international target of keeping global warming below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.
This is NOT the news we want to hear. But – by projecting where current trends are taking us, we can take immediate personal actions to protect ourselves, our families and our communities. That doesn’t mean we should “throw in the towel” and resign ourselves to a world filled with disruption and climate chaos. We need to continue to do the work required build a just, carbon-free, sustainable and resilient world, while adapting to an already-changing climate.
This provocative presentation, A 50-Year Plan for Surviving Climate Change, was given by Blake Davis, Adjunct Professor, School of Applied Technology, Illinois Institute of Technology at the 2012 Great Lakes Bioneers Chicago event and then again in May, 2013 at Wellington Avenue United Church of Christ. In it, Davis provides an analysis of trends that affect our climate and our economy, and then identifies “low tech” solutions that can help us adapt and mitigate some of the economic consequences and hardships likely to come our way.
Who Is Blake Davis?
Blake Davis teaches about sustainability and facilitates undergraduate research projects the School of Applied Technology at the Illinois Institute of Technology. His students developed the aquaponics facility at The Plant, where he continues to serve as faculty adviser for one of the first vertical farms in the world, in a former meat packing plant in Chicago’s former Stockyards.
Click here to learn more about Blake Davis’s experience, accomplishments, and credentials.
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