#6 Last (But Not Least?)

There is a German phrase describing the sensation of something that just went by way too quickly – Mir nichts dir nichts.. That is just how I look back on the last term at UCL.

Me, looking back at 2017/Earth Rise. Source: svs.gsfc.nasa.gov

I attempted to explore some ways towards global warming mitigation. I closely reviewed the global Divestment movement, a highly political tool aiming to reduce anthropogenic carbon emissions. Further, I researched geoengineering and specifically afforestation, a scientific-physical mitigation approach. In retrospective, it struck me that the take-home messages of these two approaches are remarkably similar: Both are partially promising but prove useless unless serious emissions cut are undertaken on the emitter side. Divestment educates and builds up crucial political and societal pressure while relying on governments and legislators to greatly limit future mining. Geo-engineering has many faces most of which are very risky but in the worst case scenario, they might the last chance. However, their impact is majorly limited by scientific and financial thresholds, as well as political and societal aversions. Ultimately, both mechanisms radically emphasized how complex the solution-toolkit for global warming is.

Personally, I feel I did manage to gain a deeper and more comprehensive understanding of the different dimensions of climate warming mitigation. I found it challenging to break down these complicated topics and squeeze them into 1000 words for a maximum blog post.
There is so much more to be said – maybe I will, after all, maintain this blog in the future. For now - good-bye!