Eleven Nobel laureates call for sustainable economy

Guardian : A conference of Nobel laureates is being held this week in Hong Kong. The event coincides with the awarding of this year’s Nobel Prizes. Its focus is on the likely effects of global warming and the rate at which humanity is using Earth’s natural resources. The laureates, who include physicists Brian Schmidt and George Smoot and crystallographer Ada Yonath, say the primary message is that sustainability is key—not just in fighting climate change, but also in ensuring that humanity can continue to support itself ecologically and economically. Smoot pointed to the blue LED, which earned this year’s physics prize, as an example of the way technology can help with sustainability. LEDs provide a low-carbon and efficient alternative for artificial lighting. The laureates listed several major areas that humanity needs to be concerned with going forward, including Asian urbanization, alternative energy sources, drug-resistant bacteria, and ecological conservation. They also indicated that open and honest discussion by scientists is necessary for convincing politicians and the public of the dangers of non-sustainability.