Overcoming the challenges of global decarbonisation

Posted on: December 9th, 2024 by mlpEditor

The global drive toward decarbonisation has reached a pivotal moment. While we’ve made impressive progress in some areas – particularly in renewable energy and electric vehicles – we now face our greatest challenges. This talk by specialist Chris Goodall explores how we can tackle the most difficult aspects of decarbonisation: from transforming heavy industry and modernizing our infrastructure to ensuring a fair transition for all.

 

Our Journey So Far: Early Signs of Progress

We’re witnessing remarkable progress in our global efforts to tackle climate change. Look at China, where electric vehicles have captured the imagination of the world’s largest car market, now representing over 50% of new sales. In northern European homes, heat pumps are becoming the new normal for heating, showing how quickly we can adapt when solutions make sense. These developments tell us something exciting: the first steps of our energy transition are not just possible – they’re happening.

 

Powering Tomorrow: The Rise of Clean Energy

As we explore the foundations of this transition, we’re seeing renewable energy evolve in fascinating ways. Wind and solar power are becoming more powerful and reliable, while battery technology keeps surprising us with new possibilities. One of the most intriguing developments is how we’re learning to use hydrogen – making it when we have surplus renewable electricity and using it to power our grid when we need it most. What other innovative storage solutions might we discover as we continue this journey?

 

Cracking the Code: Industry’s Next Chapter

Now we’re entering more challenging but exciting territory. How do we transform industries like steel, cement, and fertilizer production that can’t simply plug into the electricity grid? We’re discovering that hydrogen might be key for cement production and high-temperature processes. The transport sector is opening up new frontiers too, exploring synthetic fuels made from captured CO2 and hydrogen. These solutions might play an even bigger role than we currently imagine – what other breakthroughs might be just around the corner?

 

Growing Together: Challenges That Unite Us

As we dig deeper, we find that decarbonisation isn’t just about new technologies – it’s about reimagining our whole society. Here’s what we’re learning:

  • Resource Innovation: How can we get smarter about using and reusing our raw materials? We’re seeing exciting developments in recycling technology every day.
  • Investment for All: While the transition needs significant funding – about 3-4% of GDP over two decades – we’re discovering new ways to make this work for both developed and developing economies.
  • Building Support Together: Perhaps our most interesting challenge is creating change that works for everyone. How can we design carbon-reduction policies that benefit all members of society, especially those most vulnerable to rising costs?
  • Grid Evolution: We’re learning that modernizing our electricity networks isn’t just about technology – it’s about working with communities to create solutions that work for everyone.
  • Food System Transformation: We’re discovering new approaches to agriculture that could help both our planet and our health, from changing what we eat to finding better ways to care for our soil.

 

Moving Forward Together

The path to full decarbonisation is one we’re still mapping out, but it’s filled with possibilities. Every day brings new insights, technologies, and ways of working together. While the challenge is urgent, we’re learning that when we combine our creativity and commitment, solutions emerge that we might never have imagined.

 

Practical Information

The presentation will include time for questions and discussion. Supporting slides will be provided to help understand technical concepts. Light refreshments can be purchased from the venue’s bar. Booking is essential.

 

Accessibility Information

The venue is wheelchair accessible with an accessible toilet on the ground floor. Please contact us regarding any specific accessibility requirements you may have by emailing events@manlitphil.ac.uk

Reducing your Carbon Footprint – Consumer Products

Posted on: December 2nd, 2024 by mlpEditor

This is a recording of an online seminar that explores how we can make sounder choices about our future consumer purchases.

It begins with a brief introduction about the challenges that our consumer society presents in terms of carbon emissions associated with the production and distribution of the goods “we love to buy” on both a personal and societal level.

This is followed by a presentation from David Lovell – a regulatory consultant with wide experience in the environmental impact of white goods and lead author of PAS 7770:2024, the new national standard with implications for how products are made, bought, used and disposed. He addresses the steps that industries and retailers are taking to be a part of a more circular economy and explore some of the challenges that this change faces.

What are the greenwashing tactics that companies might produce and how can you identify them?  What are the best options for consumers who want to reduce the environmental impact of their purchases?

David’s presentation is followed by questions from the audience.

Reducing your carbon footprint – Consumer Products

Posted on: September 23rd, 2024 by mlpEditor

How can we make sounder choices about our future consumer purchases?

This online event will begin with a brief introduction about the challenges that our consumer society presents in terms of carbon emissions associated with the production and distribution of the goods “we love to buy” on both a personal and societal level.

This will be followed by a presentation from David Lovell – a regulatory consultant with wide experience in the environmental impact of white goods and lead author of PAS 7770:2024, the new national standard with implications for how products are made, bought, used and disposed. He will address the steps that industries and retailers are taking to be a part of a more circular economy and explore some of the challenges that this change faces.

What are the greenwashing tactics that companies might produce and how can you identify them?  What are the best options for consumers who want to reduce the environmental impact of their purchases?

David’s presentation will be followed by questions from the audience, and we encourage you to get involved and take part in the discussion.

Reducing your Carbon Footprint – Effective Carbon Offset

Posted on: June 20th, 2024 by mlpEditor

This is a recording of an online seminar that explains how you can offset your own personal carbon footprint, both ineffectively and effectively.

It begins with an introduction to the carbon offset methods available to the public and their efficacy.

After the introduction, Dr Jan Huckfeldt, Chief Commercial Officer of Climeworks, the largest Direct Air Capture (DAC) organisation on the planet, gives a presentation. Jan describes the role that atmospheric CO2 (the largest greenhouse gas contributor to anthropogenic climate change) plays in climate change. He explains the reality of what this really means, and the science and practice of DAC on the journey to scale the operation to gigatonne capability.  There is also a discussion on the economic challenges that have to be overcome.

Maybe you want to know more about ‘greenwash’? Or better understand the relative scale of the challenge we face to restore atmospheric levels of CO2 to what is considered a safe level.  Whatever your interest, watching this seminar with give you an understanding of what you can do in reality to correct excess levels of CO2 that is already present in the atmosphere.

We’re still shopping?! – We Invented the Weekend

Posted on: June 4th, 2024 by mlpEditor

This panel discussion will bring together leading sustainable fashion campaigners Patrick Grant and Wayne Hemingway, with academic and cultural commentator Professor Rachel Bowlby, to interrogate the past, present and future of consumer behaviour and sustainability around shopping.

For decades, shopping and the high street has been intrinsic in our culture. Our shopping districts have changed rapidly, emptied in many cases, or have been replaced by eateries.

Where we buy our clothes is shifting with reselling websites expanding at an exciting pace, online personal shopping services gaining traction and renting clothes becoming more commonplace. We ask, what could the future of shopping look like? Are consumers more empowered to make sustainable choices?

Deborah Smailes from the University of Manchester will guide the conversation adding her extensive experience of the fashion industry and sustainable garment production.

Reducing your Carbon Footprint – Effective Carbon Offset

Posted on: May 21st, 2024 by mlpEditor

This online seminar will introduce how you can offset your own personal carbon footprint, both ineffectively and effectively.

We’ll begin with an introduction to the carbon offset methods available to the public and their efficacy.

After this introduction, Dr Jan Huckfeldt, will be joining us online from Switzerland as the Chief Commercial Officer of Climeworks, the largest Direct Air Capture (DAC) organisation on the planet. Jan will describe the role that atmospheric CO2 (the largest greenhouse gas contributor to anthropogenic climate change) plays in climate change. He will explain the reality of what this really means, and the science and practice of DAC on the journey to scale the operation to gigatonne capability.  There will also be a discussion on the economic challenges that have to be overcome.

Following Jan’s presentation, there will be a Q&A session where you will have the opportunity to ask that burning question you always wanted to know the answer to.  Maybe you want to know more about ‘greenwash’? Or better understand the relative scale of the challenge we face to restore atmospheric levels of CO2 to what is considered a safe level.  Whatever your interest, you will leave this seminar with an understanding of what you can do in reality to correct excess levels of CO2 that is already present in the atmosphere.

Guest writer Jasmine Baines shares her takeaways from Mandy Barker’s talk

Posted on: February 22nd, 2024 by mlpEditor

On 19th February 2024, artist Mandy Barker delivered a poignant online talk on her evocative photography of marine plastic debris.

Introducing herself, Barker explained that she began photographing mass accumulations of plastic to draw attention to something that has become commonplace: litter on our beaches. Barker talked us through her projects, spanning a career laden with global recognition.

A number of her works capture plastic on a black background, arranged to mimic the natural world it is invading – dolphin pods, jellyfish, even plankton – reflecting how plastic permeates, altering nature’s very building blocks. Nurdles, for example, absorb oceanic toxins and are then consumed by wildlife, thus polluting fish and birds. I was shocked by the incessant, all-encompassing nature of plastic dominance that Barker’s work foregrounds.

Barker’s work has a scientific grounding, and her presentation reflected this. After attending a talk by a scientist that detailed the plastic-laden stomach contents of a 30-day-old albatross chick, Barker was shocked that this was not common knowledge. Determined to assist, she has worked closely with scientists since.

In 2012 Barker joined a scientific expedition sailing from Japan to Hawaii. Trawling across the debris field, they tracked plastic waste and rafting organisms still circulating from the Japanese tsunami a year earlier. Her emotive images emit the urgency her lived experience has instilled within her to raise awareness of the dangers of marine plastic pollution.

Emulating the Edward Degas quote, “Art is not what you see, but what you make others see”, Barker’s message was one of raising awareness – interestingly, she targets children, capturing Smartie lids, bath toys, and action figures of Shrek, Hello Kitty, and Mickey Mouse, speaking the globally transferable language of childhood.

A member of the audience echoed my thoughts when they queried if it would be more appropriate to target industrial leaders, responsible for causing, and surely correcting, the most damage. My mind wandered to the effects of instilling anxiety amongst children, potentially making them feel unjust responsibility. Barker responded simply that both audiences are crucial. And by educating children they will consume less, and place pressure on bodies wielding the power for large-scale change. As her work has been published in fifty countries, including within the school curriculum, Barker is certainly achieving her goal to educate and influence consumer choices.

When asked at the conclusion if the oceans can be cleaned, Barker explained we must first halt the stream of debris – “if a bath is overflowing, tackle the tap before you mop the spillage”. The awareness Barker raises is the first step – hopefully those in power are listening.

Plastic Ocean

Posted on: February 21st, 2024 by mlpEditor

In this recording of an online talk, we explore a photographic artist’s response to the worrying state of our oceans today.

Oceans are essential to life on earth. They cover more than 70% of the planet’s surface, regulate the climate, and supply the oxygen we need to survive. But every year, more than 8 million metric tons of plastic enters our oceans, affecting marine environments, biodiversity, over 700 different species, and ultimately human health.

For more than 13 years, artist Mandy Barker has created different series of work to try to engage new audiences with the harmful effects of marine plastic pollution. Captions alongside Mandy’s work detail the ‘ingredients’ of the plastic objects photographed, list brands, or provide descriptions about locations and countries and what was recovered there. The aim is to provide the viewer with a realisation of what exists in our oceans. It is hoped that raising awareness of the scale of plastic pollution that is affecting our oceans, through the passing on of these facts combined with scientific research, will ultimately lead the viewer to want to make change and take action.

Mandy writes:

“Art alone cannot change the world. But by bringing attention to marine plastic pollution in this way, it is hoped my work will help inform, and raise awareness about the overconsumption of plastic and the wider issue of climate change, and in doing so encourage a wider audience to want to do something about it.”

George Monbiot in Conversation with Sarah Bridle

Posted on: August 21st, 2023 by mlpEditor

One of our most fearless voices on nature, climate change and the environment, George Monbiot’s new book, Regenesis: Feeding the World Without Devouring the Planet considers a way to grow more food with less farming and transform our relationship with the Earth. Through discoveries about fertility, perennial grains and new ways of growing protein and fats, George demonstrates how cutting edge thinking and tiny lifeforms could save the planet and provoke a regenesis. A passionate and eloquent speaker, George is committed to working with others to defend the natural world he loves and counts Greta Thunberg, Robert Macfarlane and Yanis Varoufakis amongst his many fans.

Presented by Manchester Literature Festival in partnership with Manchester Lit & Phil.

 

TO BOOK TICKETS: visit the event page on HOME’s website

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