Fighting Climate Change Demands Stronger Political Will - Expert

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 23 (Bernama) -- The future of the global sea level and climate change demands stronger political will to enact change on decisions made on greenhouse emissions, says 2016 Tinker-Muse Prize for Science and Policy on Antarctica recipient, Professor Robert DeConto. DeConto, a Professor at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, United States, said the decisions made, although critical to fight climate change, were not based entirely on individual judgement. "Be proactive about being engaged in local politics and national politics to vote or to protest, if that's what it takes to make sure we actually don’t go down this path of continuing to pollute the atmosphere with greenhouse gases because that's a dangerous path for us to take," he told reporters after the award presentation ceremony. The prize was presented to DeConto by Chair of the Tinker-Muse Prize selection Committee, Peter Barrett, and Tinker Foundation president Renate Rennie, at the 34th Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) Biennial Meetings and Open Science Conference here Tuesday. Themed 'Antarctica in the Global Earth System: From The Poles to The Tropics', the conference is being held at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre (KLCC) from Saturday till Aug 30, with the participation of more than 900 participants from 40 countries. Professor Robert DeConto was awarded the Tinker-Muse Prize for his outstanding 15 years of work on past and future Antarctic climate and for research integrating geological data with modelling, to reveal likely consequences for future sea level rise from ice sheet melt. "I study the ice sheet and how it has changed in the past and what it might do in the future. Any changes in the ice sheet means that ice could be going into the ocean and when ice goes into the ocean, it melts and raise the global sea level. "It's a very important global issue and potentially, will be a problem in the future with increase in green house gas emissions and global warming. So, we are concerned about the future of Antarctica because if it melts, it will have an impact on coastal cities and low land nations," he said. Explaining further on his concern, DeConto was worried about the warm ocean waters and the continuous uploading of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere that could lead to sufficient warmth in the air above the ice sheet, to start to melt it from the top down. "And, having a lot of melt water on top of the big ice sheet can potentially influence its dynamics and its flow out into the ocean. So, we are very worried about both ocean warming and air warming. You can think of it as being attacked from both below and above," he said. Organised by the science, technology and innovation ministry, Malaysia is the first Asian country to host the SCAR Biennial Meetings and Open Science Conference. --BERNAMA