More and more evidence suggest that we could potentially face runaway climate change at a much faster rate than anticipated. The videos Arctic Methane: Why the Sea Ice Matters and Arctic Death Spiral and the Methane Time Bomb presents a sobering analysis of the latest data on disappearing Arctic sea ice. James Hansen warns in a new paper that we are on the verge of crossing a tipping point into catastrophic climate change. Accelerating warming may release methane from permafrost and the ocean floor, creating a positive feedback cycle of increasing warming and increasing release of methane, resulting in potential catastrophic runaway global warming.
While the evidence suggesting potential runaway climate change is cause for concern, I believe the outcome will be determined by a race between climate change and change brought about by science and technology. It is clear that political change and social change will not provide solutions to climate change. Only rapid innovation in science and technology will be able to provide solutions that can deal with the rapidly increasing problems we face. We need runaway science – we need scientific innovation that can outpace the threats posed by runaway climate change.
Over the last 100 000 years science has grown at an accelerating rate. The next ten to twenty years may see innovation in science and technology orders of magnitude greater than what we have witnessed in the last 100 years. Much of this acceleration may come from citizen science, from self-educated independent scientists. The greater the number of people who get involved in science, the greater the chance of a Black Swan solution not anticipated at present. We cannot depend on politicians to increase science budgets to solve the problems we face. Rather, young people need to take the initiative and follow their passion for science.