Two Degrees Cooler

Stockport's Climate Action Now (CAN) Summit 2024 represents a year of progress in sustainability for Stockport, but are we doing enough to halt the climate crisis? I had the pleasure of attending the CAN Summit 2024 in Stockport, United Kingdom this week. This event brought together councillors, businesses, charities, and passionate members of the public to discuss what we are doing and what we can do about the climate crisis.  I was most impressed by the morning talks, which mentioned what Stockport has already done since last year's summit including discussions with young people and a fund for businesses. This is an important feature that is all too often missed in initiatives like these: accountability.  Stockport charities and social enterprises presented the creative ways they were helping not just the climate but the communities affected. These included: Preloved , a second hand uniform shop with a trendy twist;  Stockroom , an upcoming library-art gallery-town...

In honour of Don’t Step On A Bee Day (10th of July), and from noticing a lot of people choosing to rewild their gardens, I’ve been inspired to look into how the bees have been doing lately. Bees are an essential part of our ecosystem. They pollinate plants - about 80% of all pollination is done by bees- and use nectar to make honey. By doing these jobs, bees are responsible for 1 in every 3 bites that we eat!  But bees are in danger. You might have noticed you don’t see as many flying around as you used to, or it’s been a while since you heard of anyone being stung by a bee. Beekeepers have noticed that their hives have been depleted by 30-50% and sometimes up to 90%. This trend has been continuing for over a decade. It’s suspected that pesticides are responsible. Biologists have analysed bee pollen and found more than 150 toxic chemicals. This isn’t entirely accidental - chemical companies have been made aware of the effect of their products on the bee population and have shirked...

When I talk about global warming, I say “Greenhouse gases are released, causing more heat to be trapped in the atmosphere and raising the global average temperature”. This is the basic version of the greenhouse effect. There’s a missing step: How do greenhouse gases physically cause more heat to be trapped? What is the physics behind it? My ruse has been uncovered, since my dissertation supervisor noticed that I didn’t actually go into the physics of climate change in my paper, so I’m going to need to look into it and tell you guys what I find out on the way! What are Greenhouse Gases? A greenhouse gas (GHG) is a gas that absorbs and emits radiant energy within the thermal infrared range, causing the greenhouse effect. The thermal infrared energy is what is known as heat, which are waves that humans can’t see but they can feel. GHG are Carbon Dioxide (from burning fossil fuels), Methane (from producing fossil fuels and agriculture), Nitrous Oxide (from agriculture and industrial activi...

I have just attended the Conference for Undergraduate Women in Physics , or CUWiP. It was online for the first time thanks to the pandemic, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. The website says, “The goal is to encourage undergraduates to continue in physics by focusing on their development as a scientist and showcasing options for their educational and professional futures” and they had events like a Wikipedia edit-a-thon, a bunch of talks and panels, and a talk from the esteemed physicist Jocelyn Bell Brunel.  The experience was valuable in a way that I hadn’t expected. I definitely enjoyed all of the talks and activities, but more than that, it felt to empowering to be in a room full of people who look just like you. It isn’t something you experience, ever, as woman in physics so it’s a feeling that you don’t even know that you’re missing. To be able to see yourself as just a scientist rather than a female scientist removes this burden of insecurity that you don’t even realise that ...

 I’ve been looking at places where Environmentalism and Feminism intersect. One really shocking issue is that Climate Change could cause more people to fall victim to human trafficking, sex trafficking in particular. This is a horrifying outcome so I thought it was worth bringing awareness to this outcome and look at what could be done to prevent it.  How does climate change connect to human trafficking? As we release more greenhouse gases (GHG) into the atmosphere, more heat is trapped causing the average temperature to rise known as ‘global warming’. This affects the climate, the average weather over a long period of time.  One outcome of global warming is that ice will melt – mostly land ice- and cause sea levels to rise. This threatens to sink islands and flatter countries like Sri Lanka . Another outcome is more extreme weather and natural disasters, like stronger typhoons, flooding, and droughts. More information on global warming  here .  This could make ...

This week we’ve seen in the news that a large boat has gotten stuck in the Suez Canal. This is a high traffic area which means it’s holding up hundreds of boats crossing from Asia to Europe, or vice versa. The shipping industry is a big contributor to carbon emissions - specifically black carbon which are tiny black particles produced by burning marine fuel- which are terrible for the environment. This is why it's important for them to be efficient and burn the least amount of fuel. Having hundreds of ships waiting to pass through a canal is not good for emissions, especially when some are choosing to take the longer route around Africa which causes more fuel to be used. To fix the problem, a lot of people are saying to just pull it out, but it’s more difficult than that. I thought this was a really interesting physics problem that would be worth having a look at. The Suez Canal The Suez Canal is a manmade waterway connecting Asia and Europe. It is one of three of the most import...