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Sri Lanka: One Island Two Nations
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Sri Lanka: One Island Two Nations
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Thiranjala Weerasinghe sj.- One Island Two Nations
?????????????????????????????????????????????????Tuesday, July 4, 2017
Hawking says Trump's climate stance could damage Earth
By Pallab Ghosh-2 July 2017
Stephen Hawking says that US President Donald Trump's decision to pull
out of the Paris climate agreement could lead to irreversible climate
change.
Prof Hawking said the action could put Earth onto a path that turns it into a hothouse planet like Venus.
He also feared aggression was "inbuilt" in humans and that our best hope of survival was to live on other planets.
The Cambridge professor spoke exclusively to BBC News to coincide with his 75th birthday celebrations.
Arguably the world's most famous scientist, Prof Hawking has had motor
neurone disease for most of his adult life. It has impaired his movement
and ability to speak.
Yet through it all, he emerged as one of the greatest minds of our time.
His theories on black holes and the origin of the Universe have
transformed our understanding of the cosmos.
Prof Hawking has also inspired generations to study science. But through
his media appearances what has been most impressive of all has been his
humanity.
'Great danger'
His main concern during his latest interview was the future of our
species. A particular worry was President Trump's decision to withdraw from the Paris climate agreement to reduce CO2 levels.
"We are close to the tipping point where global warming becomes
irreversible. Trump's action could push the Earth over the brink, to
become like Venus, with a temperature of two hundred and fifty degrees,
and raining sulphuric acid," he told BBC News.
"Climate change is one of the great dangers we face, and it's one we can
prevent if we act now. By denying the evidence for climate change, and
pulling out of the Paris Climate Agreement, Donald Trump will cause
avoidable environmental damage to our beautiful planet, endangering the
natural world, for us and our children."
The UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) also
highlights the potential risk of hitting climate tipping points as
temperatures increase - though there are gaps in our knowledge of this
topic.
In its Fifth Assessment Report,
the IPCC authors wrote: "The precise levels of climate change
sufficient to trigger tipping points (thresholds for abrupt and
irreversible change) remain uncertain, but the risk associated with
crossing multiple tipping points in the Earth system or in interlinked
human and natural systems increases with rising temperature."
When asked whether he felt we would ever solve our environmental
problems and resolve human conflicts, Prof Hawking was pessimistic,
saying that he thought our days on Earth were numbered.
"I fear evolution has inbuilt greed and aggression to the human genome.
There is no sign of conflict lessening, and the development of
militarised technology and weapons of mass destruction could make that
disastrous. The best hope for the survival of the human race might be
independent colonies in space."
And on Brexit, he feared UK research would be irreparably damaged.
"Science is a cooperative effort, so the impact will be wholly bad, and will leave British science isolated and inward looking".
I asked him what he would like his legacy to be.
"I never expected to reach 75, so I feel very fortunate to be able to
reflect on my legacy. I think my greatest achievement, will be my
discovery that black holes are not entirely black."
"Quantum effects cause them to glow like hot bodies with a temperature
that is lower, the larger the black hole. This result was completely
unexpected, and showed there is a deep relationship between gravity and
thermodynamics. I think this will be key, to understanding how paradoxes
between quantum mechanics and general relativity can be resolved."
When asked if money or practicality were no object, what his dream
present would be, he said it would be a cure for motor neurone disease -
or at least a treatment that halted its progression.
"When I was diagnosed at 21, I was told it would kill me in two or three
years. Now, 54 years later, albeit weaker and in a wheelchair, I'm
still working and producing scientific papers. But it's been a great
struggle, which I have got through only with a lot of help from my
family, colleagues, and friends."