The 7th Revolution and Anthropogenic Climate Change
- Angela Findlay
- Mar 8, 2021
- 2 min read
Image credit: Mena Kamil (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
Professor Emeritus Gareth Wyn Jones recently presented his latest work at one of our online seminars, he has enjoyed a long association with Bangor University, as a student, as a researcher (under Professor Charles Evans) as a lecturer, and one of the founders and leaders of the Centre for Arid Zones Studies at Bangor.
He began his talk with the exploitation of energy sources which lead to an increase in material and social complexities. Life requires a constant input of energy to maintain order, and without energy the complex structures of living systems would not exist. Homeostatic regulatory systems are required to sustain and stabilize these structures.
He went on to explain that the changes in energy availability are an enormous acceleration of change as more and more energy has become available and now, we are facing the biggest challenge in our history: Anthropogenic global warming (AGW).
Video Credit: NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio. Data provided by Robert B. Schmunk (NASA/GSFC GISS).
There are six major step changes in the 4-billion-year history of Earth.
Energising Life - 3.8-4.0 billion years ago
Energising the first cell proton motive force
Reduced chemicals REDOX gradients
Harvesting the Sun - 2.7 billion years ago
Capturing solar energy with oxygenic photosynthesis
Cyanobacteria/Chlorophyll
The main driver of life on Earth with ample energy
Oxygenation transformed Earth's atmosphere, hydrosphere and lithosphere
Eukaryotic Cells – 1.7-2 billion years ago
Eukaryotic cells appeared using mitochondrial power
Multi-cellular animals, fungi and plants
Evolution of Hominids – 1.5 million years ago
Controlled fire, cooked food, better brains
Homo sapiens brain supports 100 trillion synaptic connections
25% human energy to the brain
"Harvard Museum of Natural History: Skulls & the evolution of homo sapiens" by Chris Devers is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
Agricultural Revolutions – 8-12,000 years ago
Breeding and cultivating plants and animals
More photosynthetic energy captured -> human numbers & animal power
Population growth, towns & cities
Crafts, marketing, reading, writing, armies, kingship, religion
Industrial Revolution - 200-250 years ago
Fossil hydrocarbon burning, coal, oil and gas
Huge population growth
Huge demand on all natural resources
Greed and inequality
Anthropogenic Global Warming - within 20 years
Dependence on fossil fuels are threatening the world
More energy -> more time/power
More complexity ->more humans and accelerating change
Our homeostatic mechanisms cannot cope
He concluded that the more energy we have, the more humans there will be and the quicker the change. Humans as a species are ill prepared to cope with climate change due to our behavioural psychology, we need to react collectively to protect future generations.
My Thoughts
My question to Gareth at the end was “if we continue at this rate, how long have we got?” the answer came as a shock and sadly his prediction may be spot on, but we ALL need to pay attention and make changes right now.
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