Climate change can seem like a problem too vast for everyday people to influence, but research using computer models suggests that public attitudes and social learning can have a measurable impact on global warming. “It’s a big challenge and a lot of things have to change.”Mathematical models of how climate responds to different levels of greenhouse gases are a mainstay of climate science. “Just as human behaviour influences climate trends, climate change in turn influences human behaviour,” says the study published in the journal PLOS Computational Biology. Anand and her colleagues are among the first to try to bring human behaviour into climate change projections. The model suggests that if all the social elements are functioning and factored into climate projections, it’s increasingly possible to limit global warming to the 1.5 degrees recommended by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

Source: National Post June 09, 2019 13:52 UTC