Question: Do you think that climate change is being taken seriously enough and that it could be combated if their was sufficient profile and funding?

Robert Hampson answered on 17 Nov 2014:

It is a complex problem. A higher profile, scare mongering, and funding will not stop 3 billion Indians and Chinese wanting tumble dryers, washing machines and cars. Better public transport, better designed cities, and an economy less focused on 9-5 work and consumption might prevent them buying these things. Then a significant investment in alternative energies and energy saving technologies may reduce the impact they have. These would be significant changes in government policies. However, they are also unlikely because politicians in democracies want headlines and the kind of things that might be successful are more often than not fairly understated projects or could seriously affect GDP or the economy.

One thing that does look interesting is the idea of smart cities where energy grids, traffic, street lighting, refuse collection, etc. are all controlled by computers. These computers could minimise and make the use of energy much more efficient in modern supercities like New York, London, Paris, Beijing, Shanghai, and Tokyo. Unfortunately they may be way too expensive for developing countries who are liekly to be responsible for a massive increase in carbon dioxide emissions over the next 50 years.

I think carbon dioxide capture and store technology is the only thing that has even the remotest possibility of being a magic bullet.