For those activities aimed at reducing the intensity of some major impacts (e.g., limiting Arctic warming, limiting ocean warming in regions of hurricane intensification, limiting ocean acidification), I think a more appropriate term might well be "impact intervention"--save "geoengineering," "climate restoration," and "global temperature stabilisation" for the efforts (e.g., by global sulfate injection, mirrors in space, etc.) to limit global climate change.
Mike MacCracken On 11/25/08 10:26 AM, "John Latham" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > Hello John, Ken et al., > > I've always liked "climate restoration" because - though we'll never > achieve it precisely - it's what we're seeking, and is much less > likely to scare the pants off the public than the imperious > "geo-engineering". > > But when we're trying to be as exact as possible my choice is "global > temperature stabilisation". It is, in principle, possible to hold the > Earth's average temperature (however it's defined) constant: whereas > we can't restore the climate to exactly as it was - at least with > current ideas & technology. > > I think both these terms have their place: to be determined by circumstances. > > Cheers, John. > > ***************** > > Quoting "John Nissen" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>: > >> Hi Ken, >> >> Finding the right terminology is important in persuading people that >> what you are doing is sensible. >> >> "Cooling" and "refrigeration" could bring fears of overdoing the >> geoengineering, e.g. accidentally triggering an Ice Age (as some >> journalists worry!). >> >> I prefer the term "climate stabilisation". We may need to cool the >> Arctic well below its current temperature in order for the sea ice >> to reform, but for non-polar regions (i.e. most of the rest of the >> world), our initial aim should be to halt global warming - no more, >> no less. Basically the idea is to stop things getting worse. >> >> But an even better term might be "climate restoration", as we'd like >> to stop droughts rather than prolong them, restore the Arctic to a >> former condition, reverse the spread of deserts, etc. Thus, if >> possible, we could produce regional effects on climate for the >> benefit of those regions that have been already adversely affected >> by global warming. BTW, this is where marine cloud brightening >> could prove invaluable. >> >> Politically, I think "restoration" has the better connotations and >> sounds more valuable. And it leaves open the door to negotiate how >> far the restoration and to what original state/date (e.g. 80% >> towards pre-industrial). >> >> Cheers, >> >> John >> >> >> ----- Original Message ----- >> From: Ken Caldeira >> To: geoengineering >> Sent: Tuesday, November 25, 2008 9:10 AM >> Subject: [geo] the science and technology of climate cooling ??? >> >> >> I'd like to toss two other names into the ring for direct >> interventions into the climate system designed to cool Earth's >> climate: >> >> 1. Climate refrigerators produce climate refrigeration >> >> Literally, "to refrigerate" means in its original sense is "to >> cool again". With threatened loss of Arctic systems, "cooling >> again" is likely to be the goal. >> >> 2. Climate cooler or climate cooling -- Colloquially, a "cooler" >> is a "refrigerator" . With the Arctic losses, we may look to the >> science and technology of climate cooling to reverse some of the >> effects of global warming. >> >> ___________________________________________________ >> Ken Caldeira >> >> Carnegie Institution Dept of Global Ecology >> 260 Panama Street, Stanford, CA 94305 USA >> >> [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED] >> http://dge.stanford.edu/DGE/CIWDGE/labs/caldeiralab >> +1 650 704 7212; fax: +1 650 462 5968 >> >> >> >> >>> >> > > > > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "geoengineering" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/geoengineering?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
