A&S begins new series on global climate change

Three billion people in the world live on less than $2 per day, said Rajan Gupta, researcher at Los Alamos National Laboratory.

"That's your clothes, your tuition, that's everything on $2 a day," he said.

Gupta spoke on campus Thursday to kick off the College of Arts and Sciences two-year lecture program called Alabama Perspectives on Sustainability and Climate Change.

The lecture series will be comprised of lectures, exhibits, forums and discussions focusing on the science, politics, economics and ethics of energy sustainability and climate change, said Rebecca Florence, director of college relations for A&S.

Florence said Robert Olin, dean of A&S, said he wanted to start this series because he felt like it was important to start a forum on the effects of global climate change.

Florence said Olin asked Jim Hall, professor in New College, to be the chairman of the organizing committee that includes people from the departments of geology, chemistry, biology, physics and astronomy, American studies, history and religious studies.

Gupta's lecture, called "The Many Faces of the Global Energy Challenge," focused on the world's ability to create clean and affordable energy for all.

"I don't have a message to sell," Gupta said. "I am interested in how to provide energy to a world population of over six billion people."

Gupta said the driving force in the need for more energy is the world population growth. In the last 15 years, China and India have become energy guzzlers, Gupta said.

In addition, the developing world is growing at a rate of 4.7 percent compared to developed world's growth rate of 2.2 percent, Gupta said.

Gupta said no matter what the U.S. does to achieve energy independence right now, the Middle East and Russia will control conventional natural gas and oil for the next 50 years.

"We will not have energy independence," he said. "We will not have energy security,"

Gupta said some people want to find technological solutions to provide more energy in a cleaner way, but people are failing to develop these new ways.

Amanda Wachtel, a sophomore majoring in civil engineering, said she wants to help find a solution to the growing energy problem, but she is not so sure other people want to help.

"People won't fund it [a solution to the energy problem]," Wachtel said. "Plus they are not going to pay twice as much to be environmentally conscience."

Gupta said there is no solution to dealing with the emission of carbon from the burning of coal. Once carbon dioxide is released, he said, it will persist in the atmosphere for more than 100 years, which is a huge problem when trying to fight global warming.

Gupta said there is no clean energy alternative that would provide the required amount of energy for the world. The world's total grain production, which would produce clean biofuels, is only one-third of the amount of energy used today, he said.

Nuclear power also seems to be an insufficient source of energy for the world, he said.

"You have to build one new plant a day for 30 years by which time you have to start over again," Gupta said.

Gupta said there is a lot of work to be done before the energy problem can be solved, but he said he thinks it can be done.

"Students are the owners of this challenge and have to step up to the plate," he said. "We have the challenge to create a world where there is hope and not hunger."