Climate change: as the Titan disaster shows, there’s no ignoring basic science

The cavalier attitude towards warnings about the submersible’s seaworthiness in the run-up to its implosion is reminiscent of our blasé response to the increasingly alarming signs of a warming Earth
Recent record-breaking heatwaves and other weather events must spur us to act

Martin Williams

Published: 1:00am, 30 Jul 2023

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Climate change has been prominent in worldwide news this summer, notably as we have just lived through the hottest week since records began. Given a series of global warming events, alarm bells should be ringing, along with efforts to change our ways. Instead, the response has been a collective “meh”.

Our approach to climate change has parallels with a subject of recent headlines – the Titan submersible disaster. In both cases, humans are facing challenges arising from basic physics – pressure greatly increasing with depth, in the case of Titan; and, more heat trapped as we add greenhouse gases to the atmosphere. And, in both cases, there has been a cavalier response to the challenges, never mind what actual experts say.

The result was predictable and instantaneous with Titan: the design and materials were simply not up to withstanding pressures of up to 400 atmospheres – equivalent to about 2,500kg of force pressing in on every square inch – as it descended to around 4,000 metres below sea level. There had been abundant warnings from people with a wealth of experience in deep-sea submersibles.

While the results of climate change are more complex, they are also broadly predictable. And, in this case, we are responsible for the challenges as well as how to deal with them.

Of course, before dealing with these challenges, it’s important to acknowledge they exist. One long-standing issue with climate change is denial that it is even happening. To me, that’s akin to not believing water pressure will rise as a submarine descends. At its heart, climate change is based on rising emissions of gases that trap heat from the sun, in turn causing increasing temperatures.

Too many people seem unable to grasp the concept, perhaps as they have been bamboozled – gaslit – by well-funded attempts to deny that climate change is happening or is important.

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Nowadays, you would need to have been very effectively duped, and with heavy blinkers on, to believe that the Earth’s climate systems are not changing for the worse. Everything Everywhere All at Once, a snazzy title for a movie, seems to apply here, too.

I’ve written about climate change before, and each time found a handful of related weather events in the news. Today, however, there is a veritable embarrassment of riches when it comes to news of unusual weather events.

Ongoing severe heatwaves are affecting southern Europe, the US and China – where a temperature of 52.2 degrees Celsius at Sanbao in Xinjiang set a national record on July 16, and fell just shy of an almost simultaneous 53.9 degrees at Saratoga Spring, Death Valley, in the US. Severe rainfall events have also occurred, notably in the northeast US, India, and southwest Japan, where at least six people died in the region’s “heaviest rain ever”.

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The oceans have been absorbing much of the Earth’s excess heat, and this year has seen reports of widespread marine heatwaves, including waters around Florida reaching a record 38.4 degrees, threatening marine life. On July 17, Typhoon Talim passed Hong Kong, just three days after entering the South China Sea as a mere tropical depression.

Typhoons have historically caused severe damage and loss of life in Hong Kong, especially as a result of storm surges. Yet, the city aims to undertake the huge Kau Yi Chau reclamation scheme, supposedly high enough to avoid storm waves.

As of 2016, about 27 per cent of Hong Kong’s total population and 70 per cent of its commercial activities are being accommodated on reclaimed land, government figures show. This is surely a cause for concern – rising seas plus more intense typhoons could result in severe storm surges that swamp and damage swathes of land.

A metropolis is also planned for northern Hong Kong, on land that could be flooded. Meanwhile, work proceeds with building one of the world’s largest waste incinerators – set to emit more greenhouse gases – on reclamation south of Lantau, highly exposed to storms. Five years ago, Typhoon Mangkhut served a warning that urban areas can be affected by storm surges, even at low tide, yet precious little has been done to safeguard against them.

Plus, of course, Hong Kong abounds with glass facades that are almost taunting a typhoon to arrive and toss debris at them in hurricane-force winds.

Broken office windows are sealed up with wooden panels at One Harbourfront in Whampoa, Hung Hom, on October 6, 2018, two weeks after Typhoon Mangkhut shattered them when it hit Hong Kong. Photo: Roy Issa

The government publishes and updates Hong Kong’s Climate Action Plan, yet the emphasis is on “decarbonisation”, and the last chapter covers “opportunities”. But the lack of urgency and rather rose-tinted view are surely typical of places worldwide.

Since being established in 1988, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has typically issued reports that are more upbeat than the concerns of climate scientists. Yet in Climate Change 2023, released in March this year, the IPCC reported: “Climate change is a threat to human well-being and planetary health. There is a rapidly closing window of opportunity to secure a liveable and sustainable future for all.”

When the Titan wreckage was found, there was nothing left of the occupants except “presumed human remains”. As we carry on barely preparing for climate change, we’re on course for a future of increasing disasters that may leave just remnants of human civilisation clinging on.

That’s a grim prognosis, of course, albeit arising from scientific principles. Yet, fear can prompt action, and a recent study reported by news aggregator Phys.org found “doom-and-gloom climate news may scare but also encourage audiences”. Which is, of course, my hope here; perhaps you can do more – in your daily life, and advocating for changes by companies and governments.

Martin Williams is a Hong Kong-based writer specialising in conservation and the environment, with a PhD in physical chemistry from Cambridge University