So really we’re on the brink, I think, of a transformation in the way science is done. Not only tackling the problem of climate change and trying to find solutions, but also actually trying to understand the system itself.

So, some of the technological advances that we might be able to use to combat climate change involve the ability to generate energy in sustainable ways.

AI can help us develop new ways to generate energy

The question today is: can we make solar panels, or other materials, that are capable of generating energy in useful ways? In the past, scientists and engineers have developed new materials, but in rather a haphazard way. Thomas Edison created the lightbulb, but he developed the original filament by testing thousands of materials to find eventually the one that worked. Today, we can use machine learning and artificial intelligence in our search for new materials. The reason that we can do it better in the computer is that the computer allows millions of potential solutions to be searched in ways that you couldn’t do in the lab.

AI can analyse huge numbers of data points to predict how the climate is changing

The reason that AI is important in the development of our understanding of the Earth’s system is that we’re getting more and more data about the Earth as time goes on. So, today we collect satellite data, remote sensing observations allow us now to look at the patterns of landslides. As climate is changing, as weather patterns change, is the land being more destabilised by excess water? Or are the erosion patterns in the mountains changing as climate changes?

AI can help inform disaster response

Extreme weather events, as a result of climate change, do appear to be on the increase. But there’s another aspect of this – cities are getting bigger, areas that have always been vulnerable to natural hazards. With so many people potentially at risk, it becomes important to understand the system very quickly. Examples include: understanding the ways in which to respond to a situation; where to send the first responders; which hospitals to put on high alert; where to send relief supplies; who needs tents. So, all of these sorts of disaster relief processes depend upon information.

AI can help save energy by making driving more efficient

And we know, as we travel around congested cities, that we spend a lot of time sitting in traffic, burning energy, getting nowhere. Autonomous vehicles provide routes to making transport systems more effective, more efficient, so that you don’t have these waves of static traffic on a motorway, that everything is moving at the right speed and gets from one place to another in the most effective way, the most efficient way. That’s not something that, as individuals, we’re very good at planning for ourselves.

So, if we want to reduce, recycle, reuse, can AI help us? Well maybe. But it depends upon our motivation. AI is a tool, it’s not a master, and so our responses ultimately will depend upon our own personal motivations, and those of the society that we’re part of. But AI and machine learning can help us move in the right direction.

• To be on the brink of (idiom): to be about to do something, be very close to doing something.
• A transformation (noun): a complete change.
• To tackle something (verb): to try to solve a problem or deal with an issue.
• An advance (noun): an improvement or development in something.
• To combat (verb): to fight or try to stop something bad from happening or increasing.
• To generate (verb): to create or make something.
• Sustainable (adjective): not harming or damaging the environment.
• A solar panel (noun): a device which converts energy from the sun into electricity.
• Haphazard (adjective): disorganised, not having a clear or obvious plan or order.
• A filament (noun): a thin wire that lights up the inside of a light bulb.
• Machine learning (noun): the process of computers improving their own ability to solve problems by analysing new data.
• Potential (adjective): possible.
• A lab (noun): short for a laboratory, a place where scientific testing happens.
• To go on (phrasal verb): to continue.
• Remote (adjective): far away in distance, not close to something.
• A pattern (noun): a general or repeated way in which something happens.
• A landslide (noun): earth and rock suddenly moving quickly down a hill.
• To destabilise (verb): to make something less fixed and more likely to move or change.
• Excess (adjective): more than expected or normal.
• Erosion (noun): something being slowly damaged and removed by the weather or waves.
• To appear (verb): to seem or look like.
• An aspect (noun): a part of a situation or problem.
• Vulnerable (adjective): easily damaged or at risk of something happening.
• A hazard (noun): a danger or something likely to cause damage.
• A first responder (noun): a person who is the first to arrive after an emergency.
• Alert (noun): a warning to be prepared to deal with something dangerous.
• Relief (noun): food, money, or services that help people in a bad situation.
• A disaster (noun): a terrible event that causes a lot of damage.
• Congested (adjective): very blocked and crowded with too much traffic, causing problems.
• Autonomous (adjective): being able to think independently and make decisions.
• Static (adjective): not moving.
• A master (noun): something which has control in a situation.
• Ultimately (adverb): finally, most importantly.
• To move in the right direction (idiom): to make progress towards a goal or objective.

In this text, there are several examples of the active and passive voice. We can use either the active or passive voice to change the focus of a sentence. The active voice is used when the focus is on the subject (the agent), the person doing the action. Form: subject + main verb + object. The passive voice is used when the action is more important, or the person or thing affected by the main verb becomes the focus. Form: object + ‘be’ + past participle + ‘by’ + subject (if necessary).

Examples in the text:

• … a transformation in the way science is done (passive): a transformation … (object) + is (‘be’) + done (participle). The focus is on the action of a change in science, not the person who makes the change. We don’t include ‘by scientists’ because it’s obvious.
• … scientists and engineers have developed new materials, but in rather a haphazard way (active): scientists and engineers (subject) + have developed (verb) + new materials (object), but in a rather haphazard way. The focus here is on humans (subject) doing the action and not doing a good job. The active is used to emphasise the need for AI.
• Thomas Edison created the lightbulb (active): Thomas Edison (subject) + created (verb) + the lightbulb (object). Here the focus is on a famous scientist doing the action.
• … the computer allows millions of potential solutions to be searched (passive): millions of potential solutions (object) + to be (‘be’) + searched (participle). The focus is on the object and the millions of potential solutions, not the subject who does the action (‘by …’) because it’s not important and we don’t know who.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/english/course/intermediate/unit-12/tab/grammar

https://www.englishpodcastscollected.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/BBC-Ideas-Four-ways-AI-can-help-tackle-climate-change.pdf

https://www.englishpodcastscollected.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/BBC-Ideas-Four-ways-AI-can-help-tackle-climate-change.docx