We don’t need ‘miracle’ technologies to fix the climate. We have the tools now | Mark Z Jacobson

Wind, water and solar energy is cheap, effective and green. We don't need experimental or risky energy sources to save our planet

Nearly 7 million people die each year from air pollution. Moreover, global warming is already causing catastrophic damage. We have only seven years to eliminate 80% of the world's greenhouse gas emissions - and 12 to 27 years to eliminate the rest - to avoid 1.5C global warming since the 1850 to 1900 period. We are already 1.1C above average.

The world also faces serious energy-security risks related to climate change: the economic, social, and political instability that will result when fossil fuels and uranium run out; blackmail by countries that control the supply of fuel to other countries; the high costs of shipping energy long distances; blackouts when a centralized fossil-fuel or nuclear power plant unexpectedly goes down; and health and environmental problems associated with continuous fuel mining, waste storage, nuclear reactor meltdown, and nuclear energy-related weapons proliferation.

Mark Z Jacobson is a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Stanford. His work informs the scientific bases for the Green New Deal. He is also the author of six books, including No Miracles Needed: How Today's Technology Can Save Our Climate and Clean Our Air