On Friday 17 May, a Science with Tapas session entitled The role of science and technology in the fight against climate change was given by Dr. Jorge Olcina Cantos of the University of Alicante and framed within the Science and Technology Fair of Elche. This was moderated for the first time and in an entertaining way by Dr. Francisco Javier Álvarez Martínez, postdoctoral researcher at IDiBE.
Dr. Jorge Olcina is Professor of Regional Geographic Analysis at the University of Alicante, president of the Spanish Geography Association and principal investigator of the Climate and Land Management group. He has published more than 100 articles, several books and has collaborated with multiple media. During his talk, Dr. Jorge Olcina expressed forcefully that we are currently suffering from climate change, demonstrated by the excessive increase in temperature. Although climate change has occurred naturally throughout history, what is happening today is mainly due to human action. Since the widespread use of fossil fuels in the 19th century, the emission of CO2 (or carbon dioxide) into the atmosphere has contributed to the fact that ultraviolet rays reaching the earth have difficulty escaping, leading to overheating. In addition, Dr Jorge Olcina stressed that climate change affects us all, including people and the different ecosystems, such as the sea and forests, which are unable to regenerate from one season to the next. All of this makes it necessary to change the management of resources, for example, by using renewable energies to reduce CO2 emissions and try to reverse their effect on global warming. It is also necessary to establish new emergency plans, since in the Mediterranean area the way it rains has changed, with more and more torrential rains. Finally, he ended his presentation by calling for the importance of communicating correctly and with scientific rigour, avoiding extremist messages.
This was followed by a round of questions that focused on the possibility of reversing climate change. Dr. Jorge Olcina responded that, if measures are taken now to reduce CO2 emissions, climate change can be reversed in the long term, by the year 2100. This is because the seas have risen very high in temperature and their decline is going to be very slow. On the other hand, not all countries are reducing CO2 emissions, because the main way, which lies in the use of renewable energies, is expensive and will depend on their economic power and commitment to the environment. Finally, we have to rejoice because Spanish society is not considered denialist on this issue, and we are very involved in taking measures to reduce and avoid climate change as much as possible.
This Science with Tapas took place in the restaurant of the Valona building of the UMH Elche campus with spectacular views of the surrounding area and an audience of around 100 people.
