The farmer slammed the door in a fury. He had trudged all the way back from the cowshed in the pouring rain, only to realise that he had forgotten something. What was it? He had brought the cows in from the field; he had milked them; he had fed them. Suddenly it hit him: he had not put on their masks.

The Zelp mask is one of the winning entries for this year's Prince of Wales' Terra Carta Design Lab awards. It was created to address methane emissions from farm animals.

The mask contains a catalystA substance able to increase the rate of a chemical reaction without itself being consumed or changed by the reacting chemicals.  that oxidises the methane produced when the animal burps. It is then released into the air as CO2 and water vapour. Over 20 years, this can reduce the environmental impact of methane emissions by a factor of 85.

Another solves the problem of tyre wear. Rubber particles shed by tyres as they roll along the road are the second-largest microplastic pollutant.

The invention is an attachable filter which uses static electricity to attract the particlesIn the same way that static holds a balloon in place if you rub it against a jumper. before they are carried away. They can then be re-used in other rubber products.

The other winners were AmphitexA breathable waterproof fabric. - a biodegradable material for outdoor clothing - and Aerseeds. These are aerodynamic pods made from food waste carried.

Others are already in use. An office above the central subway station in Stockholm is being partly warmed by the body heat of travellers passing underneath it.

A similar system in Glasgow harnesses the thermal energy from clubbers. Now, according to Professor Amin Al-Habaibeh of Nottingham Trent University, "We can develop 'smart buildings' able to adjust their heating based on the number of people in a room and the expected resulting increase in temperature."

Human genius often comes to the fore in dire situations. In 1854, a doctor called John Snow helped end a potentially catastrophic cholera epidemic in SohoA district of central London. Until recent times, it was lived in mainly by poor people.. Most people believed that the disease spread via a miasmaAn unhealthy air or vapour. Until the 1880s, most scientists in the West believed that diseases were spread by bad air. This theory was replaced by the germ theory of disease, but belief in the discredited idea actually drove a great number of improvements to public sanitation and sewage systems. in the air. But Snow concluded that contaminated water was the problem.

By mapping the places where people fell ill he was able to pinpoint a public pump as the source. Once its handle was removed, the death rate began to fall. 

In the US, the Great Depression of 1929-1939 caused so much hardship that some feared it would result in anarchy. Unemployment rose, and with no social security, millions struggled to survive.

The worst was averted, thanks to the visionary New Deal put together by President RooseveltPresident from 1933 until he died in 1945, he won a record four elections.. It reformed the financial system, provided help for the poor and created an enormous public-works programme to provide employment.

Yes: Just look at the Covid-19 crisis. It was a mysterious disease that no one initially knew how to deal with. Yet within a very short time, vaccines and ways of testing for it were developed.

No: There are some crises which are just too big and too complex to deal with. The chances of restricting global warming to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels are looking increasingly thin.

Or... Ingenuity is of no use unless it is matched by determination. We can solve climate change with the inventions we already have - what is lacking is a willingness to make the necessary sacrifices.