TEDxPorto Countdown
It is possible to clean the atmosphere?
(going beyond the efforts to neutralize new emissions)
All the last reports by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change clearly state that only by removing CO2 from the atmosphere we can meet the Paris Agreement Goals.
In parallel with the ongoing process of reducing and mitigating current emissions under the Paris Agreement, is it possible to clean up the excess of CO2 in the atmosphere that already exists?
For that to be possible, a new legal framework is needed!
Climate must be recognised and managed for what it is de facto:
a Common Good that belongs to all generations!
The Common Heritage of Humankind
TED COUNTDOWN initiatives intent to championing and accelerating solutions to the climate crisis, support locally curated TEDx events and showcase climate solutions in the world through the TED stage.
TEDxPorto, will host the TEDxPorto CountDown – Online, with the goal of opening a worldwide discussion about the concept of global commons, climate, and the rights of future generations to benefit from this Heritage that has always belonged to everyone in the real world.
SPEAKERS
More speakers to be announced soon.
A TRIBUTE TO WILL STEFFEN
Will Steffen, considered as the father of the Earth System Science, pioneering scientist in the understanding the global interconnections and functioning of the Earth System as a single unity, has recently passed away, as we started organizing this conference.
Will leaves behind a legacy of exceptional research that has greatly impacted our understanding of the Earth System, and the role of humanity within it. His ground-breaking work includes the great acceleration of the Anthropocene, the safe operating space for humanity, planetary stewardship, and the risk of a hothouse earth.
Will Steffen was a pioneer of the “big picture”, as well as understanding that without creating an International Legal Framework for the Protection of the Earth-System – “Not the physical Earth, but the software, the functioning interface of the planet, the ocean circulation, the atmosphere circulation, the movement of materials, carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus energy around the planet” – the rigor of science, it will remain nothing but good intentions.
This is why Will Steffen was one of the founders of the Common Home of Humanity, and became one scientific pillar of this concept.
As he taught us, a stable climate is nothing more than the manifestation of well-functioning Earth-System. An intangible Common Heritage of Humankind.
He was planning to be present in this edition of TEDxPorto Countdown, The Unspoken Truth about Climate Change. This is why we make this tribute, and we will assist to an unpublished interview with him.
Task force for Climate as a Common Heritage – Coordination
Institutional Support
