I haven't read the book yet, but any idea why western civilization is singled 
out here for collapse and everyone else survives AGW/SRM effects? Fiction 
indeed. 
Greg

>________________________________
> From: David Lewis <[email protected]>
>To: [email protected] 
>Cc: [email protected] 
>Sent: Thursday, August 7, 2014 9:32 AM
>Subject: [geo] Re: 2. What are some potentially false 'memes' related to solar 
>geoengineering?
> 
>
>
>Naomi Oreskes and Erik Conway, in "The Collapse of Western Civilization" write 
>that you can heat a planet by starting and stopping SRM.  I've never heard 
>this "meme" before, i.e. that merely starting and stopping SRM heats the 
>planet to a higher temperature than it would have reached had SRM never been 
>employed. 
>
>They call the effect "termination shock".  After the 4 year SRM project 
>described in the book is halted  “temperature rapidly rebounded, regaining not 
>just the 0.4 degrees C that had been reduced during the project butan 
>additional 0.6 degrees”.   They use this rapid 1 degree C temperature rise, 
>which they say happens in 18 months, as the trigger of a "fatal chain of 
>events" which ends Western Civilization.  Permafrost melting doubles the total 
>carbon in the atmosphere in 10 years which drives planetary temperature upward 
>an additional 5 degrees C, the West Antarctic ice collapses, Greenland ice 
>slides into the sea, the Black Death reappears and kills half the population 
>of Europe, etc.  Mayhem ensues.  Survivors of this collapse of civilization 
>are then threatened with a "runaway greenhouse" which "would have followed", 
>unless..... 
>
>Oreskes, when interviewed in WBUR "On Point" promoting the book, said:  "This 
>is a work of fiction, but it has footnotes".  She also says:  "Absolutely 
>everything that happens in the book is based on scientific data and 
>projections"
>
>The source Oreskes and Conway cite in support of their idea is Climate 
>Engineering and the risk of rapid climate change by Ross and Matthews.  That 
>paper does not support the Oreskes/Conway idea.  Ross and Matthews find that 
>in all model runs, at all times the temperature of the planet is lower where 
>SRM is started and stopped than in runs where it is never employed at all.  
>
>
>
>2b. Why do you suspect the correctness of that meme?
>>
>>
>>2c. (optional) Can you provide a citation or a link to where someone is 
>>assuming the meme is true?
>>
>>
>>Thoughtful responses would be most appreciated. If you want to start 
>>discussion about a meme, please do so in a separate thread so that this 
>>thread can be easily used to develop a list.
>>
>>
>>Thanks,
>>
>>
>>Ken
>>
>>
>>_______________
>>Ken Caldeira
>>
>>Carnegie Institution for Science 
>>Dept of Global Ecology
>>
>>260 Panama Street, Stanford, CA 94305 USA
>>
>>+1 650 704 7212 kcal...@ carnegiescience.eduhttp://dge.stanford.edu/labs/ 
>>caldeiralab  
>>https://twitter.com/ KenCaldeira
>>
>>
>>Assistant:  Dawn Ross <[email protected]>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
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