#CauseForOptimism: Catalyst for CO2 Conversion

Like me, you may be concerned about the sweeping policy changes unveiled by the new U.S. administration in relation to climate change. Both scientific research funding and regulatory enforcement appear to be under siege. As somebody who has written a science fiction trilogy driven by the catastrophic impacts of climate change on a future Earth -- and who has been moved by "climate fiction" novels like Barbara Kingsolver's Flight Behavior -- this generates an alarming sense of life imitating art.

So, when I see a story like the one I'm about to share, it injects that precious burst of optimism that we all need (desperately ;-) from time to time.

Researchers invent novel catalyst to convert carbon dioxide

Research chemists from the University of Amsterdam recently stumbled upon a catalyst that efficiently converts carbon dioxide to carbon monoxide, which can then be used to create useful chemicals. This new catalyst is cheap, easy to prepare, and operates at ambient pressure and low temperatures. If it scales up as expected, it can be applied at an industrial scale to potentially transform large volumes of an environmentally damaging greenhouse gas into a useful resource. Wicked cool!

So major kudos to the wizards at UvA's Sustainable Chemistry research area for distilling atmospheric lemons into lemonade. When things look dark, science shines a light of hope for a better future. That's why it deserves our support, respect, and government funding. American scientists are ready, willing, and able to provide this kind of #CauseForOptimism. We just need to keep giving them that chance!

#SFWApro