The John Glyn Scholars’ Society presents Dr Rupert Read
Colfe’s welcomed environmental philosopher, chair of Green House think tank and former Green Party of England and Wales councillor Dr Rupert Read to speak at the latest John Glyn Scholars’ Society lecture.
Review by Ole (Year 10)
“Dr Read’s lecture on the future of our world included insightful and rarely discussed ideas on the matter of climate change. The talk provided radical thoughts on how global warming will shape our demise and what options we have to combat our loss of control over our earth. The lack of dialogue on this issue is something Dr Read attempts to rectify, suggesting that more action is necessary to halt the end of our world.
In order to fully prevent further change in our climate, an extreme transformation would be required. Without this, Dr Read claims that our race will either collapse fully or there will be a significant setback in which most of the population is wiped out. Neither of these options are desirable for our planet and to avoid either we must reform our consumption and production of energy, our travel, our hobbies, our work and our education. Civilisation as we currently know it is no longer viable and so we need to reinvent the way we live.
Multiple prerequisites exist for this environmental revolution to occur. Firstly, if we want to be able to change our world we need everyone to be aware of the issue and actively fighting it. Educating the world is a primary step in reducing CO2 emissions and changing our way of life – global collaboration and understanding of this crisis is essential. Additionally we must, in some way, defeat the greed-fuelled opposition of climate reform, who are consistent in overpowering those attempting to change our world. These people are often economic leaders, who prefer to be wealthy than aid the environment. While a multitude of hurdles exist in stopping climate change, a worldwide stance working towards new, renewable energy and opposing greenhouse gases can significantly reduce the likelihood of global demise.
The end of the talk was dedicated to highlighting those already fighting the climate change crisis, most of whom are students participating in walk-outs and raising awareness. A final point was that those most able to prevent this issue are young people – an example being Greta Thunberg, a fifteen-year-old Swedish girl who has advocated for the prevention of a global warming disaster with great effect.
Personally, the talk inspired me to research further into the issue and discover what impact I can make. The neglected topic of climate change was exposed insightfully in the talk and I am sure many others felt obliged to conduct further investigation into the subject. Afterwards, I was left thinking about the various options posed in the talk and what steps I could personally take to aid our environment. Overall, the session was not only engaging but introduced a new perspective – Dr Read’s insight into the topic was something which most didn’t know they needed.”