An Introduction to Climate Restoration by Peter Hoberg
Last week 30 Rotarians gathered at Paul and Penny’s house and heard an excellent presentation by our own Peter Hoberg on Climate Restoration. Besides Sunrise Rotarians and spouses/partners, there were also guests from the Windsor, Healdsburg, and East/West clubs at the event. Peter’s presentation focused on the need for, and strategies to implement, Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR). Peter showed us why CDR is necessary by giving us the numbers (yes, he’s a math guy!): (1) there are now 1,000 excess gigatons of CO2 in the atmosphere compared to pre-industrial levels; (2) the current concentration of CO2 in parts per million is 420 compared to the pre-industrial level of 270; and (3) scientists and those pesky mathematicians calculate that we need to limit the increase in global temperature to 1.5 degrees Celsius if we want to avoid the most catastrophic impact of climate change. Peter’s research shows that even if we can limit future carbon emissions we still have to remove carbon from the atmosphere if we want to avoid catastrophic environmental damage.
Peter noted that a comprehensive approach to CO2 is required. This approach is the reduction of emissions, adaptation to climate change, and removal of CO2 from the atmosphere. Focusing on new science for CO2 reduction, Peter described the CDR Spectrum, including natural sinks (forests, soils, mangroves), durable bio-storage (tree burial, bio-oil injection), mineralization, and direct air capture. He identified some amazing new and developing technologies, including the Tigercat 6050 Carbonator, the Takachar (transforming agricultural waste into marketable products), bio-oil injection, biomas burial, rock weathering, and Direct Air Capture (DAC). CDR startups are blossoming world-wide and massive research is being conducted in universities worldwide to deal with developing these and other technologies and the means to verify their effectiveness. Younger scientists and mathematicians seem to be leading the charge in many ways.
Peter’s presentation was fantastic. The above summary does not do justice to the depth of his program, but Peter will do a repeat of this presentation on Zoom on Tuesday November 29 at 5pm for anyone who is interested. Details will be coming soon. Well done, Peter, and thank you for keeping this issue front and center!
