On May 8th, Prof. Roger M. Bonnet from the International Space Science Institute (ISSI) in Bern delivered an Understanding Science lecture: Playing with Earth Climate. How long will we survive? at the Bridge Café in Wudaokou, Beijing.

It is the first time that ISSI-BJ was organizing such an event, as a member of the Understanding Science platform. Around 50 young people attended the Café lecture, held in an informal and international environment.

The lecture focused on Earth climate change and the means to address this issue that affects us all. In this talk, Prof. Roger M. Bonnet showed the impact of human activity on our planet by questioning human beings’ lifestyle, especially the increasing use of natural resources. Finally, he stressed the importance of taking decisions in the 21st century to ensure the long-term survival of human being on Earth. 

"Understanding Science - Beijing" is organized by the UK Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC), the Institute of Physics (IoP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and ISSI-BJ. Its goal is to make a broader public aware of today’s accomplishments in research through short scientific lectures in English (popularization talks) as well as to have an opportunity to talk with either EU or Chinese scientists currently carrying out research in China, in a friendly and multidisciplinary environment.

Prof. Roger M. Bonnet is a French astrophysicist. He was Director of the Science Programme of the European Space Agency from 1983 to 2001. He then acted for as long as ten years as the Chairman of COSPAR and the Executive Director of ISSI in Bern. He works now as a senior advisor for the National Space Science Center, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, China.