Are there still climate change deniers? Indubitably. I’m not interested in them today, rather, I’m going to discuss creative ways to deal with a few of today’s massive challenges.
With a little research online, you can find many other
examples.
Transportation. I
read an article from 2021 about why we don’t have solar powered cars – a car
can’t hold panels large enough to produce electricity for top speeds and
distances. End of story. Wrong. I read a 2022 article that tells me companies
like Sona Motors (Germany), Aptera Motors (California), Lightyear (Dutch) are
building hybrid solar/electric vehicles that combine solar panels with
traditional EV charging, providing an additional 15 to 45 miles (free of
charge) on a clear day.
The Sono Sion,
which is expected to begin production in Europe in mid-2023, is priced starting
at just $25,000. Its battery has a 190-mile range, and while the car also has
465 integrated solar half-cells on its exterior, the boxy, five-seat hatchback
appears unassuming and practical.
So this car
gives you per year 5,700 miles free of charge, you know, free of any costs,
because it comes from the sun. This is roughly 15 miles a day, which is perfect
for commuters,” said Sono Motors co-CEO and co-founder Laurin Hahn. He said
that when the Sion hits the U.S. market, it will make for an ideal second
vehicle. How
Sono, Aptera and Lightyear are making solar powered EVs a reality (cnbc.com)
You may have heard of the
Hindenburg. It was an airship (zepplin) that used hydrogen and burned in 1937. Airships
mostly went out of fashion after that, especially for passenger service, but
they are having a renaissance.
Today’s airships use the safer helium
gas. They produce 80 to 90 percent fewer emissions than airplanes. They fly
slower and lower so may not be as useful for certain uses but could be ideal
for cargo as well as certain passenger tours, particularly to inaccessible
places that have no airstrips. Airships
Rise Again | Air & Space Magazine| Smithsonian Magazine
Science fiction
writer, Isaac Asimov postulated moving sidewalks in cities. What about hovercraft
buses to save building more highways? Electric or solar powered trains?
Agriculture. Much is going on in this area regarding methods of reclaiming
land, protecting existing environments, carbon capture, etc. I’m particularly
interested in CEA – controlled environment agriculture, such as greenhouses,
plant factories or vertical farming.
Neil Mattson,
School of Integrative Plant Science at Cornell University, says “It integrates
technology and agriculture and enables year-round production of high quality
products.”
A greenhouse
could produce 20 to 50 times more lettuce per acre than a field in California.
Of course, there are challenges growing crops in controlled environments, for
example, the amount of energy and labour costs required. One of the main questions
for Mattson: Is it realistic and economically viable? “I’m trying to understand
the pros and cons off this higher tech production system and want to understand
its constraints and improve upon the constraints.” Growing
the World’s Food in Greenhouses | Cornell Research
Centuries ago, farmers and rural
communities in southern Europe adapted to become experts in water,
soils, crops and animal management to keep their lands fertile and productive.
These practices helped rural communities withstand periodic stresses such as
drought and food scarcity.
'In the race for modernisation, intensification of production
and competitiveness, we have neglected, forgotten or even (discarded) all that
knowledge, all that heritage, all that richness,' said Prof. MartÃn Civantos. Ancient
farming techniques could help mitigate climate change (phys.org)
Indigenous people
in Canada and all over the world have been growing and harvesting food for a
long time. They have provided us with many staples of our modern world such as
potatoes, chocolate, corn, etc. A BRIEF HISTORY OF INDIGENOUS
AGRICULTURE (manitobamuseum.ca)
Changing what we
eat – less reliance on meat, more protein from plants. More local food
production and processing in each province. There used to be a lot of small flour
and grist mills in Saskatchewan. Now, as far as I could find out, there are 3
large ones, but smaller processors of organic flour are also found. The Encyclopedia of
Saskatchewan | Details (uregina.ca)
Housing. Last summer and this have
been terrible for forest fires in Canada. Other parts of the world have had
these challenges as well. Homes, whole towns have been destroyed. Can we build
houses that are resistant to such fires?
Australia and
California are two places where this kind of building is going on. Bushfire
Proof House: Top 10 House Designs for Bushfire Prone Areas | Architecture &
Design (architectureanddesign.com.au)
Climate changes also affect us
in terms of high summer temperatures, and not all houses have air conditioning.
Even if they do, this is not the most environmentally friendly way to cool
buildings; conventional air conditioners account for about one fifth of totally
electrical consumption globally. Heat pumps have become increasingly popular,
mitigating both high and low temperatures. Government subsidies are available
in parts of Canada to install these.
However, there are ancient
methods of cooling houses that have mostly fallen out of fashion, though some
are reviving them.
Wind towers. In
ancient Persia, buildings used tall wind catchers that extend upward from the
roof of a house and funnelled breezes downward. Many of these can still be seen
in areas of the Middle East, though not all are functional. Along with the
towers many buildings had underground refrigeration structures as well as underground
irrigation methods. The
ancient Persian way to keep cool - BBC Future
Skywells. These are
inner courtyards of old Chinese houses in southern areas of the country, and
they still exist. Like wind towers, they help to funnel cool air downward –
after all, hot air rises if given the opportunity. How
ancient 'skywells' are keeping Chinese homes cool - BBC Future
What about houses built
partially into the ground (earth berm)? We’ve had examples of that in Canada,
and they can be quite energy efficient. Hobbits anyone? What about a house
constructed of straw bales? Little
straw house on the Prairie a cosy home | CBC News
I could go on and on. Human
beings are incredibly creative, which is probably why we’ve survived for as
long as we have. I hope to see the world continue to embrace innovation in ways
that preserve life and mitigate the effects of climate change, that
unfortunately, we did little about when it first became known as a possibility
many years ago.
