Just to follow up, we may not entirely understand the system but we know that elevated air CO2 (sand) is not good for it. Job 1 is then to stop air CO2 from increasing. Given that we have thus far failed to do this, what are the ethics of actively discouraging research on any CO2 management methods (engineering or otherwise) that might help us in this task? Ethics, economics, and politics should enter the equation once research tells us if we actually have any technically and environmentally viable options. Or is SRM the only ethics target here? Or simply any "engineering"? Or anything that disturbs pre-1750 BAU? Greg
________________________________ From: Ken Caldeira <kcalde...@carnegiescience.edu> To: geoengineerin...@gmail.com Cc: geoengineering <geoengineering@googlegroups.com> Sent: Tue, May 14, 2013 7:48:25 AM Subject: Re: [geo] Grist magazine on geoengineering The context of course is that we are already interfering in Earth's climate system in a major way ... we are already throwing sand in the gears. Model results indicate that throwing some oil on the gears will help make the clock run smoothly, despite not knowing how all the gears really fit together. When efforts to stop throwing sand fail, where does hubris lie? Does it reside in the person who wants to consider oiling the gears or in the person who claims a priori that their heightened ethical sensitivity demands that the gears not be oiled (as we watch the clockwork mechanism grind to a halt)? On Tue, May 14, 2013 at 6:45 AM, Fred Zimmerman <geoengineerin...@gmail.com> wrote: >From scott Rosenberg, who moderated last week's Caldeira/Hamilton event: > >http://grist.org/climate-energy/geoengineering-research-never-or-now/ > > >Hamilton’s Earthmasters book quotes Lawrence Livermore Labs scientist Lowell >Wood: “We’ve engineered every other environment we live in — why not the >planet?” >If the hubris there is too much for you, Hamilton balances it with a line from >another scientist, Ron Prinn: “How can you engineer a system you don’t >understand?” > >--- >Fred Zimmerman > >Geoengineering IT! >Bringing together the worlds of geoengineering and information technology >GE NewsFilter: http://geoengineeringIT.net:8080 -- >You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >"geoengineering" group. >To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an >email >to geoengineering+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. >To post to this group, send email to geoengineering@googlegroups.com. >Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/geoengineering?hl=en. >For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out. > > > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "geoengineering" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to geoengineering+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to geoengineering@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/geoengineering?hl=en. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "geoengineering" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to geoengineering+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to geoengineering@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/geoengineering?hl=en. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
