Hi Folk,
Some of you may be interested in a paper written by Bronislaw Szerszynski and myself which has just been published (on-line) in the journal Global Environmental Change. It develops the governance debate from a social science perspective, and takes an interesting perspective, informed by a piece of public engagement research which we conducted in the UK about a year back. Happy to post a pre-pub version if there's interest. all best Phil Phil Macnaghten, Bronislaw Szerszynski<http://scholar.google.co.uk/scholar_url?hl=en&q=http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959378012001483&sa=X&scisig=AAGBfm1-D_C4J8F0T9W03sf4sv11IheteQ&oi=scholaralrt> P Macnaghten, B Szerszynski - Global Environmental Change, 2013 Abstract Solar radiation management techniques are a class of geoengineering methods designed to reflect some of the inbound sunlight back into space with the intended effect of arresting further warming of the planet and thus counteracting global warming. In this article we examine current debates on solar radiation management governance, clarifying a number of assumptions that persist and why these require further scrutiny. Building on existing research we articulate a more critical role that the social sciences should be playing in public engagement with solar radiation management. We develop a deliberative focus group methodology that aims to open up deliberation on the technology, focusing explicitly on the kinds of world that its deployment would bring into being. Our findings, based on an analysis of public discourse, suggest that solar radiation management would be publicly acceptable only under very specific, and highly contingent, conditions. Given the sensed implausibility of these conditions being realised in the real world, we set out the implications for solar radiation management governance. We explain why solar radiation management was perceived as likely to create a particular kind of world, one with an increased probability of geopolitical conflict, a new condition of global experimentality, and major threats to democratic governance. How to bring these issues into solar radiation management governance entails an important but challenging role for the social sciences. Highlights ► This article examines public discourse on solar radiation management. ► A deliberative focus group methodology is developed to elicit public responses. ► Solar radiation management is seen as publicly acceptable only when a set of conditions are realised. ► These conditions are seen as on the whole implausible in real world situations. ► The implications of the research are drawn out for debates on solar radiation management governance. Keywords - Solar radiation management; Geoengineering; Governance; Deliberative methodology; Conditional acceptance; Democracy -- 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]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/geoengineering?hl=en. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
