This conclusion of the one hour interview covers Anderson’s intriguing proposal for carbon rationing; the fifth great extinction; the miserably small amount of money offered to the non-industrialized countries in the global climate fund; and it poses a provocative challenge to all of us: Are we choosing climate disaster or are we choosing a way out that requires courage and dramatic changes to the way we live? Because given the reality of our time and the clear state of science, says Kevin Anderson, this is the decision we are making now – not in 5 or 10 or 20 years. If we continue CO2 emissions as we do now it will be too late – possibly as early as in 5 years.
Kevin Anderson is Professor of Energy and Climate Change in the School of Mechanical, Aerospace and Civil Engineering at the University of Manchester, UK. He is Deputy Director of the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research and active in academia with recent publications in Royal Society journals and in Nature.
Before having this extraordinary academic career, Kevin Anderson was a mechanical engineer and worked on oil rigs and gas platforms. His dual background in engineering and academia make him a sought after consultant. Anderson reported on aviation-related emissions to the EU Parliament, advised the Prime Minister’s office on Carbon Trading and has contributed to the development of the UK’s Climate Change Act.
With his colleague Alice Bows, Anderson’s work on carbon budgets has been pivotal in revealing the widening gulf between political rhetoric on climate change and the reality of rapidly escalating emissions. His work makes clear that there is now little chance of maintaining the rise in global temperature at below 2 degrees Celsius.
Kevin Anderson was interviewed by John Gibbons from the National Trust for Ireland. They spoke in Dublin, Ireland, in March 2016.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:00 — 19.9MB)
