What the history of science can teach us about climate change

I had a very enlightening evening last week at the Royal Institution where author Richard Homes – who has written brilliant biographies of Shelley and Colderidge – gave a lecture. It was quite a magical occasion as the biographer offered an insight into his new book, The Age of Wonder. As he pointed out he was standing in the space – the institution’s Faraday theatre – where many of the figures he describes, such as Humphry Davy and William Herschel, either lectured themselves or where in the audience to hear about the amazing new ideas and theories being laid out by scientific figures at the turn of the 19th century. There then followed a fascinating discussion on climate change, polymaths, education and how science and the humanities need to stitch closer together.The central tenet of Holmes’ work is that the period of the Romantic poets coincided with a flourishing of scientic ideas and imagination as exciting as that

The Age of Wonder by Richard Holmes

put forward by the literary figures that we have all heard of, such as Shelley, Byron, Coleridge and Wordsworth. The men and women he highlights in the Age of Wonder – - deserve as much attention as the poets, he argues. As an aside Holmes taught me a sound lesson in power point – don’t write out what you’re going to say on the slides, tease you audience with images and visual treats. And he delivered this line, which I liked – “Power corrupts, Powerpoint corrupts absolutely”.

Here were a few key points to be taken from his lecture (whats’ the difference between a lecture and a presentation?):

• What the Age of Wonder can teach us about climate change – Or more correctly what it can teach us about our response to climate change. Holmes is passionate about how the divide between science and the humanities – which appears to have taaken hold in the last century – must be bridged. He used the example of climate change as an example – there is a lot to get your head around on this one (my words not his) but there are solutions. Why aren’t we implementing them fully as yet? Is this divide holding us back from full understanding as a society on climate change and from having the strength of will to tackle it? And is more imagination – as show by the figures in the Age of Wonder – required to both explain, communicate and solve these problems
• Education is wrong – The audience and Holmes agreed that there was a crisis in education in this regard. And it call came down to A-Levels, which forced pupils into selecting one definitive future path for their lives – science or humanities. Why can’t they mix? And after there is that tectonic shift from one side to the other what opportunities are out there to train yourself up in sciences?
• Joseph Banks – Holmes begins his book with a description of Joseph Banks stepping on to a beach in Tahiti after sailing there with Captain Cook in 1769. Banks acclimatised himself with the environment, both in terms of the nature and the people. And his reflections on this, including observing the joy of the islanders surfing, was influential. Holmes argues that Banks offers very modern thinking, from the Industrial Revolution view of conquering and controlling nature to harnessing it and enjoying it

.After getting very excited about what Holmes has to say on this I now think I need to read the bleeding book itself.

Related posts:

1. Art and science Just caught a great Guardian podcast with on of Britain’s...
2. Prescott on Climate Change at Think 2007 ...
3. John Oliver on climate change threads Having got thoroughly depressed reading another thread on climate change...
4. Game over for preventing climate change? The International Energy Association (IEA) has said it will be...
5. Camp climate change. Some thoughts ...