The headline seems inconsistent with the body of the petition. The headline is "Support Geoengineering Efforts to Mitigate Climate Change", but the content is closer "Support Efforts to Research and Improve Governance of Potential Geoengineering Technologies and Approaches".
I don't "support geoengineering efforts to mitigate climate change", but I do support efforts to research and improve governance of potential geoengineering technologies and approaches. --- As a side note, I think solar geoengineering would not count as "mitigating" climate change, as that word is used in IPCC parlance, although carbon dioxide removal arguably could. Solar geoengineering might be better viewed as a strategy to adapt to high greenhouse gas concentrations. On Fri, May 31, 2013 at 10:48 AM, Andrew Lockley <[email protected]>wrote: > > http://forcechange.com/65741/support-geoengineering-efforts-to-mitigate-climate-change/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=support-geoengineering-efforts-to-mitigate-climate-change > > Support Geoengineering Efforts to Mitigate Climate Change > > BY JULIA KIM > > Target: UNEP Executive Director, Achim Steiner > > Goal: Encourage geoengineering efforts to mitigate the effects of climate > change. > > Climate change will likely create long-lasting and widespread systematic > changes across all sectors of society and affecting all corners of this > world. With its effects being increasingly observed—rising surface > temperatures, diminishing ice and snow coverage, variations in weather > patterns and extreme weather events—greater mitigation efforts are needed > to limit the pace and magnitude of climate change. However, greenhouse gas > emissions reduction efforts are insufficient and incapable of directly > intervening the ongoing cycle of warming, thus alternative strategies must > also be explored and adopted to enhance current efforts.Geoengineering, the > intentional manipulation of Earth’s systems to counteract climate change, > include carbon dioxide removal technologies and solar radiation management > tactics, which generally remain in their respective theoretical or > developmental stages. Without any comprehensive international laws > governing this field, research remains disorganized and fragmented, > preventing the potential value of geoengineering from being realized and > failing to pursue all available avenues in limiting the destructive > capability of climate change. Furthermore, the lack of oversight and > regulation increases the likelihood of rogue operations and independent > field studies that could even stimulate the inertia of climate change. In > 2012, American entrepreneur Russ George led a team of unidentified > scientists and dispersed 100 tonnes of iron sulphate into the Pacific Ocean > in an attempt to fertilize the ocean, which seeks to increase the levels of > phytoplankton and their ability to absorb atmospheric carbon dioxide. > However, the results were inconclusive without external scientific review > and may have instead disturbed marine ecosystems.The development of an > international agreement can solidify research, increase efficiency in > developing technologies, better determine the efficacy of geoengineering, > and prevent the deployment of large-scale experiments that could be > disastrous. Climate change presents an unprecedented threat to the world > and UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner already recognizes the inadequacy > of current strategies. Urge Director Steiner to take lead and initiate > international discourse towards an agreement. > > -- > 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 [email protected]. > To post to 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. > > > -- 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 [email protected]. To post to 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.
