A 30 minute recital, a 15 minute talk by an expert climate change speaker, 20 minutes of audience conversation, 3 minutes of music to finish
Retiring collection for Cambridge Carbon Footprint
Talk by Dr Hugh Hunt, Reader in Engineering Dynamics and Vibration, Cambridge University Engineering Department: Can we refreeze the arctic?
Talk synopsis: Can we refreeze the Arctic?
Dr Hugh Hunt, Reader in Engineering Dynamics and Vibration Cambridge University Engineering Department
How can we cool the planet if we fail to meet our CO2 emissions targets? Scary stuff – we need to be talking about it! We may want to cool the planet if (when) we fail to meet our CO2 emissions targets. There are "geoengineering" technologies out there almost ready to go and some sound quite scary. Many pundits question whether it is safe to meddle with the climate when we only have one Earth, but others argue that we haven't much time left before climate change runs away from us. This talk will present technologies which may be urgently required to slow down the progress of Arctic melting. One project, Stratospheric particle injection for climate engineering (Spice) proposed a small experiment but the experiment was shut down for fear of "the slippery slope". Research in geoengineering has ground to a halt. But we're short on action on all fronts. If we're too late and the arctic permafrost warms up then we may need to capture billions of tonnes of atmospheric methane. The scale of the problem is huge, and we're not well prepared.
Soprano Paula Downes was a Choral Scholar at Trinity College Cambridge and has since performed with The Sixteen and Philharmonia Voices and as a soloist with numerous Choral Societies and Orchestras including performances under Stephen Cleobury in King's Chapel, Cambridge and in St John's Smith Square under Sarah MacDonald. She founded the female vocal group, The Cantabrigians in 2016, and they have performed all over Cambridge, most notably for The Big Switch On to huge Crowds. In September 2018, Paula became Musical Director of The Meridian Singers in Bluntisham. An experienced teacher, Paula has taught singing at Bristol University, and music and singing at top private schools including St John's College School, Cambridge. As Chief Executive of Lynwood Music, Promoter and Publisher of the music of her father, composer Andrew Downes, Paula has produced many films and animations based on his songs and became one of three nominees for The American Online Film Awards in 2014. The films can be viewed at pauladownes.com.
Pianist Clare Bullimore was born in Devon but attended Chetham's School of Music from the age of 11. Whilst there, she was a semi finalist in BBC's Young Musician Of The Year and a prize winner in The National Almaviva Mozart Competition. She later read Music at Queens' College, Cambridge. During her time at Queens' she performed a Mozart piano concerto with the St Margaret's Society Orchestra at West Road Cocert Hall. Since graduating, Clare has been working as a piano teacher and freelance accompanist, initially in Cambridge and then in Yorkshire. She has worked with numerous choirs and choral societies including Leeds Philharmonic Chorus, Sheffield Philharmonic Chorus, Doncaster Choral Society and Sheffield Bach Choir. Performances include Rossini's Petite Messe Solennelle and Britten's St Nicolas. Recently she was involved in rehearsals for a recording of Philip Wilby's The Holy Face. She returned to Cambridge in July 2017 and has since played for The Cantabrigians and The fairhaven Singers, and will soon be playing for Choir 2000 Histon and Impington Community Choir. Clare has 3 young children.
Dr Hugh Hunt is a Reader in Engineering Dynamics and Vibration at Cambridge University. His research centres on the control of noise and vibration from underground railways, but he got caught up in geoengineering as Co-Investigator on the Spice project, 2010-15, which looked at various aspects of Solar radiation management. He was responsible for an outdoor experiment, the 1km testbed, which was intended to evaluate the influence of wind on the motion of a tethered balloon, but controversy over geoengineering experiments led to the testbed being canceled. He is now promoting other technologies for the removal of non-CO2 greenhouse gases, in particular methane and N2O. He also runs the Cambridge Climate Lecture Series which aims to raise awareness of the urgency around climate change.
Hugh is a regular presenter on television documentaries on Channel 4, PBS Nova and SBS, including 'Dambusters: building the bouncing bomb', 'Attack' of the Zeppelins', 'Escape from Colditz' and 'Guy Martin wall of death'. He is Keeper of the Clock at Trinity College, a clock which isdemonstrably the most accurate tower clock in the world. He has an impressive collection of boomerangs which he uses to inspire students in the study of dynamics and mechanics.