Biofore Magazine 2022

By Ndéla Faye Photography UPM, Mike Karlsson Lundgren, Getty Images, XPRIZE, David Kelly Crow

B IG P ICTURE

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The global population may reach 9.7 billion by 2050, meaning the natural resources of three Planet Earths will be needed to sustain our current lifestyles. What is being done to reduce this impact – and what effect will this have on our behaviour as consumers? H istorical periods have been named after the materials that shaped the advance ment of humanity. Their significance is immeasurable, and it could be argued that advances in materials science and the advancement of human civilization are correlated. The discovery and utilisation of bronze, iron and, more recently, oil and

aluminium, have been pivotal in human evolution. But where has the incessant pursuit of the next big material led us? The sixth Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) assessment report, published earlier this year, warned that we have arrived at a 'now or never' moment if we want to prevent a complete climate breakdown and meet global climate targets. We are at a point where our over-dependence on fos sil-based resources is no longer viable. Luckily for us and our planet, materials science is a field in which constant ad vances are being made to troubleshoot the imminent prob lems we are facing across the globe. Scientists, engineers and researchers are among those tirelessly looking for solutions to ensure a better future for us all, while trying to beat the relentlessly ticking time bomb of climate change, population growth, scarce raw materials and much more. A circular economy is the future Someone who has spent decades tirelessly working to de fuse that bomb is Emily A. Carter , Gerhard R. Andlinger Professor in Energy and the Environment, and Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Princeton University, whose current research is being backed by the US Department of Energy and US Department of Defense. Carter believes that we must be moving towards operat ing in a fully circular economy. “For centuries, we have been

Emily A. Carter, Princeton University.