“We Shall No Longer Wait!” Dr. Lee Yuan-tseh on Climate Change
The Yu Chi-zhong Lecture Series of 2016 invited the Academician Dr. Lee Yuan-tseh to lecture on the climate change. PHOTO: Kuo Tzu-cheng
At the Yu Chi-zhong Lecture Series of 2016, NCU invited Dr. Lee Yuan-tseh, the Nobel laureate in Chemistry and the Academician of Academia Sinica, to deliver a speech on climate change and related issues. He heavy-heartedly gave the topic “We Shall No Longer Wait” to the lecture to show his keen anticipation on every individual as a member of the Earth to act and to seek environmental sustainability.
Dr. Lee has been the president of the International Council for Science (ICSU), one of the biggest scientific organizations, for more than seven years. He initiated the science project on sustainable development. Last year, he further participated in the project Future Earth, proposing to pursue the sustainability and continuity of the Earth, human beings, civilizations and all species.
“As human beings entered from agricultural society into industrial era, we have been making greater and greater impact on the Earth,” said Dr. Lee. Due to the increasing demand on energy, people massively use coals, petroleum, and other energy resources. Meanwhile, the growing world population, the derivative commercial activities, and incessant development have all exceeded the Earth’s limits.
In the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP21), every country signed the agreement, setting a goal of limiting global warming to less than 2 degrees Celsius (°C). However, before the Industrial Evolution, the temperature already rose 0.6 °C. Nowadays countries around the world should strive to limit temperature increase within 1.5°C. “Otherwise, it will be tough for human beings to survive,” warned Dr. Lee.
Dr. Lee further stated that the environmental pollution, disease transmission, global warming, and climate change have showed that “the so-called progressiveness that human beings believe is in fact the wrong direction.” All these phenomena also revealed the tension between human and nature. Dr. Lee called for that countries around the world should cross the national boundaries and abandon prejudice to pursue sustainable development, participating actively rather than only being led by few dominant countries. Instead of blindly following the steps of the developed countries, every country should take their new roads to sustainability. rongrat.
