Can this man save us from population crisis?

With climate change hastening and a population explosion looming, is there any hope? Stephen Emmott may have a plan
Professor Stephen Emmott may hold the fate of the world in his hands
Professor Stephen Emmott may hold the fate of the world in his hands
© RICHARD SAKER/GUARDIAN NEWS

Are you sitting comfortably? Then let’s pick up where we left off about a generation ago, before Nigel Lawson found a new calling as a climate curmudgeon and people generally gave up on saving the planet.

This is not going to be all that pleasant, but it’s probably important. The facts, as far as can be established by Professor Stephen Emmott, of the University of Oxford, University College London (UCL) and a giant research centre funded by Microsoft in Cambridge, are these: the planet really is getting hotter. It is going to start getting hotter faster, probably this century. This is because of what we burn, but also because of how many of us there are. There are seven billion humans on the planet now,