Interventions in Public Space

Fossil fuels are going to remain the main source of power in an increasingly energy-hungry world for decades to come and we must have an idea of where current trends will take us.

These trends can be seen as "hard truths" because they are inescapable and unpleasant.

The first hard truth is the acceleration of global energy demand.
By 2050, the world's population could reach more than 9 billion, compared with today's 6.6 billion. Energy demand is growing even faster than population growth, because the developing countries, China and India in particular, are entering the energy-intensive phase of their development.

The second hard truth is that fossil fuels will continue to be the main source of energy for decades to come.
Fossil fuels presently meet about 80% of global energy demand, whereas biofuels, wind and solar energy currently supply less than 1%.
Even with heroic efforts to increase the use of alternative energy they would still only provide around 30% of predicted global energy demand by 2050.

The third hard truth is that production of "easy oil" (oil and gas that are relatively easy to extract) will not keep pace with the growing demand and to secure future energy supplies and become less dependent on imports of oil and gas, countries will exploit their domestic coal reserves.
This is true not only for China and India, but also for the US, where more than 50% of electricity is already generated by burning coal and the 27 member states of the European Union, where about 35% of electricity is currently produced by coal-fired power stations.

The fourth hard truth is that global temperatures are set to rise, even if we take quick action.
Reduction upwards of 50% in the carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by 2050 is required to limit the increase of temperature in just 2 degrees Celsius.

These hard truths present our society with significant challenges.

All the governments around the globe must urgently provide policies that encourage investment in new technologies and energy conservation and need to ensure a relatively smooth transition from a high-carbon global economy to a low-carbon one..

Climate change is a problem of all of us – not just of politicians. They have to go further than their limited planning horizons (ones of election campaigns) and we, individuals must stop behaving as if global warming is a problem of others, but not ours.

To encourage the individuals to find their ways to participate in this global process of transition Petko Dourmana is planing series of projects involving social sculptures of the Carbon Dioxide (CO2) molecule.
They will be realized at public locations in big cities around the world.