I have just posted this to bristlingbadger blogspot: http://bristlingbadger.blogspot.com/2009/01/geoengineering-ethically-unsound-says.html
--- David Schnare is absolutely right - we already have a dangerous level of CO2 in the atmosphere and it is necessary to use carbon-removal geoengineering to reduce CO2 levels as a stop-gap measure. But we have a more immediate hazard - the Arctic sea ice - whose end summer extent has been declining and could be near zero in a few years. This is causing accelerated warming of the whole Arctic region, risking massive methane release from permafrost which would cause runaway global warming. To cool the Arctic and save the Arctic sea ice, we need albedo geoengineering, for example with the cloud brightening techniques of John Latham et al., described in this blog. It is claimed the cost would be under $1 billion for the boats, and well under $1 billion per year for the running cost, to cool the sea sufficiently for sea ice to recover. Reducing carbon emissions cannot save the Arctic sea ice - but albedo geoengineering has a good chance, if we act now. The moral hazard is to ignore this opportunity and condemn us all to catastrophe from that methane release. Cheers from Chiswick, John Nissen --- ----- Original Message ----- From: David Schnare To: [email protected] Sent: Friday, January 23, 2009 1:45 PM Subject: [geo] Re: Badgering Geoengineering Here is the response I posted to the blogspot: The failure in your argument is that we have already pass 450 ppm CO2eq, and, using the logics of the IPCC, it is too late to prevent devestating climate change unless we use geoengineering as a stop-gap measure. Further, those doing serious work on geoengineering are the first to explain that efforts to reduce carbon emissions should not be slowed by the need for a stop-gap measure. The great moral hazard we face is not geoengineering but the hubris to think we as a human civilization have the will and the organization to reduce carbon emissions to levels necessary to prevent catastrophic climate change. It is too late to do so, and to think that is a realistic approach is the moral hazard that will condemn us to catastrophe. David Schnare, Esq. Ph.D. Director Center for Environmental Stewardship Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy [snip] --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ 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 -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
