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  • Bea Oamil

How Water and Life Regulate Earth’s Temperature and Modern Greenhouse

Updated: Mar 28, 2023



Last 03 March 2023, Professor Emeritus Dr. Kelvin Rodolfo gave a talk, “How Water and Life Regulate Earth’s Temperature and Modern Greenhouse”, as part of NIGS Lecture Series 2023. Dr. Rodolfo is a prolific geologist and a well-known expert in the field of Volcanology and Disaster Science. In his lecture, he explained with simple physics, geology, and chemistry of how global life made Earth habitable by changing the roles of the primary greenhouse gas from carbon dioxide to water vapor. He talked about the “Gaia” concept--that the Earth is a closed system. Therefore, when humans destroy the Earth, humans also suffer from the consequences of these activities in terms of global warming and climate change. He discussed how humanity upsets the system by returning to the atmosphere the carbon dioxide that life and geology had removed and sequestered in the rocks for thousands of years. He ended his lecture by asking everyone, especially the younger generation, to help the Earth’s system in decreasing carbon emissions by planting more trees and utilizing geothermal energy instead of fossil fuels and nuclear energy.

Participants listen intently to Dr. Rodolfo's talk on Earth systems


After the lecture, Dr. Rodolfo was awarded a certificate and token of appreciation for his very informative and insightful talk. The certificate and token of appreciation were presented by Dr. Noelynna Ramos, Dr. Mario Aurelio, Dr. JD Dianala, and Dr. Alfredo Mahar Francisco Lagmay. Dr. Kelvin was also recognized by the current officers of the UP Geological Society of the Philippines, as their former founding President.

Dr. Rodolfo receives the certificate and token of appreciation from NIGS faculty


This lecture series was co-organized with the UP Resilience Institute and Volcano-Tectonics Laboratory.

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