Welcome
The Biennial John Collier Memorial Lecture was established in
memory of John Collier who was President of IChemE at the time
of his death in 1995. The Lecture and Medal was given and presented
for the first time 1997 under the auspices of the John Collier
Memorial Fund endowed by British Energy.
This fifth John Collier Lecture will be given by Professor James Lovelock CH CBE DSc
FRS.
Global Heating from an Engineer’s Viewpoint
James Lovelock holds the view that the expression 'global warming'
fails to convey the scale of the potential tragegy facing mankind.
He describes the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s
report of 2001 as "One of the scariest official documents I
have ever read. It is couched in properly cautious scientific language
and talks of probabilities not certainties and predicts a probable
rise of global temperate of 3oC by the end of the century. It may
not seem much but this was the rise of the global average temperature
between the last ice age and the pre-industrial world, a change with
profound consequences for the whole Earth. By the end of the century
we may see as large a change but to a hotter state."
Global
warming sounds almost too cosy. Lovelock contends that 'heating'
conveys a greater sense of urgency and his lecture will approach
global heating and its consequences through consideration of
planet Earth as a dynamic self regulating entity of the kind familiar
to engineers.
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