As a kid, I was hooked on science fiction TV shows: Star Trek, Doctor Who and more. My inner nerd loved these incredible stories.
They usually followed a standard plot. A terrible crisis would unfold, threatening almost certain doom, until - in the last few minutes - a hero unveiled a technological wonder that instantly solved the problem. Whether it was Scotty working his miracles on the USS Enterprise or the Doctor using his sonic screwdriver, we were sure of one thing: technology would save the day.
I loved those stories when I was a kid. Part of me still does. And I honestly wish that some new technological marvel could save us now by averting the planetary crisis of climate change. I'd love to see a hero swoop in, set their phasers to decarbonise and zap away our greenhouse gases.
Sadly, that's not going to happen. Today, as a scientist, I know why.
The fundamental reason high-tech solutions won't save us from climate change is simple: time.
Time is by far the most important variable - and the one thing technology can't give us more of.
Climate change is a cumulative problem. The warming we see now is caused by the year-by-year, decade-by-decade build-up of greenhouse gas pollution in Earth's atmosphere. The severe climate disruptions of 2023 - the record temperatures, storms, fires and other disasters - weren't caused by 2023's emissions alone. Nor were they caused by those of 2022. They were caused by our long-term, cumulative emissions, building up over many, many years.
Over the past several decades we've been emitting a lot of greenhouse gases - tens of billions of tonnes each year, adding up to a staggering amount of pollution dumped into the atmosphere. The cumulative impact of that pollution has fundamentally changed our atmosphere and climate system.
This story is from the New Year 2024 edition of BBC Science Focus.
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This story is from the New Year 2024 edition of BBC Science Focus.
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