Speaking with Dr. Rajendra Pachauri on Climate Change and Renewable Energy
I’m so glad I took advantage of today’s opportunity to interview Dr. Rajendra Pachauri, Nobel Prize winning climate scientist and chairman of the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change).
At several points in the conversation, I was reminded of my discussions with my friend and colleague Wally Rippel, who often makes the point that we 21st Century Americans have astonishingly little regard for science. Any of us can name dozens of great athletes, actors, singers – even notorious criminals. But how many of us can name a few great living scientists?
Not only do we not revere science, plenty of us hold precious little respect for it. Recall the debates between the Republican candidates for president, if you think I’m exaggerating. For months on end we heard our most esteemed leaders tell us that climate change, like evolution, are “just theories – theories with holes in them.”
Dr. Pachauri is one of the most prominent players in the negotiations of the international agreements with respect to climate change, and the mitigation of pollutants that are causing this phenomenon. The transcript of the interview will appear in my next book, “Renewable Energy – Following the Money,” and thus I’m reluctant to give too much away at this point. But suffice it to say that he’s quite bullish on a ground-up (rather than a top-down) push for renewable energy and cleantech more generally.
When I asked how I can help, as I characteristically do when in the presence of people whose work I so admire, he responded, “Just keep up your work in telling the story. Success will be achieved when the people really understand the truth about the very basic principles of science that are at stake here. This is how change will come. Once the politicians see that the voters demand progressive policy, we’ll have it quite soon.”
For all the frustration that this man faces on a day-to-day basis, he’s remarkably upbeat and optimistic. He even quoted Mahatma Ghandi — always a good sign for a man on a mission.
I just read an article about the potential release of huge quantities of methane if the ice near the south pole melts. If that article is correct, the amount of global warming could be far greater than many have forecast.
Here is a quotation that indicates that Dr. Pachauri sees nuclear power as essential to solving the problem of climate change:
“They both agreed on preparing an alternative for the future energy demand while confronting the threat of climate change, and suggested new and renewable energy and nuclear power as the solution.”
Here is a link to the article from which the above quotation was taken:
http://energy.korea.com/archives/26321
There are other articles which indicate that Dr. Pachuri sees nuclear power as part of the solution.