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Panel Detail:

Wednesday, April 26, 2006
12:00 PM - 2:00 PM

Lunch Panel
A Discussion with Nobel Laureates in Medicine and Science

Moderator:

Michael Milken, Chairman, Milken Institute; Chairman, FasterCures / The Center for Accelerating Medical Solutions

Nobel laureates F. Sherwood Rowland, right, and Alan MacDiarmid offer their views on global warming on the conference's final day.

All three distinguished scientists agreed that global warming was a real phenomenon. The year 2005 was the warmest of the last 150 years, and there has been a considerable increase in global surface temperatures, particularly in the Arctic region. Human activity has been instrumental in creating these effects, with increasing levels of atmospheric pollutants and carbon dioxide levels as a result of fossil fuel use and deforestation. Chu impressed the crowd with his clear explanation of increasing Arctic surface temperatures, and many were surprised to learn that non-carbon dioxide pollutants have increased temperatures by making Arctic ice dirty. This dirty ice is less reflective, increasing the amount of light absorbed by the polar ice caps. If Arctic ice melts and causes a change in ocean currents, said Rowland, it will "take over a thousand years to reverse the effects," which will include widespread changes in global temperature patterns.

Global warming may have a far-reaching impact on the global water supply, another of the Earth′s most pressing problems. While there is a tremendous supply of water on the planet, most of this is saltwater, which cannot immediately be used for irrigation or human consumption. Current desalination processes are too energy-intensive to be relied upon, forcing humans to improve water conservation. But global warming, said Chu, has the potential to impact the Earth's freshwater storage capacity. Most of the world′s freshwater systems are fed by the natural storage capacity of mountain snow and glacial ice. Should higher temperatures cause these to disappear, the state of California and other places throughout the world could face tremendous water shortages.

Alan MacDiarmid noted that he believes the world′s energy crisis to be the greatest scientific problem today. All the energy we use, he said, fundamentally comes from the sun′s energy. Through photosynthesis, plants and trees convert the sun's energy to our other forms of energy. With this in mind, he said he intends to spend the upcoming years trying to answer the question of whether the plants and plant wastes in the United States can efficiently generate enough ethanol to fully replace gasoline in automobiles. If so, this will reduce U.S. dependence on gasoline and global warming.

Chu offered a final cautionary note on global warming when he said that "the warmest period in the Earth's history was followed by the greatest mass extinction in human history." Scientists will play an important role in informing public policy and driving the technological innovations that will prevent our extinction and allow humankind to continue to thrive.

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