Poster's note : please see link for videos from Robock and MacCracken embedded
http://climatecrocks.com/2014/12/02/geoengineering-contemplating-the-last-resort/ GeoEngineering: Contemplating the Last Resort “If we’re going to be as Gods, we might as well get good at it” was a catch phrase in the Last Whole Earth Catalog. I don’t think this is what they had in mind. Scientists have been contemplating the Last Resort. Above, Rutger’s Alan Robock on pros, and cons. Guardian:The carbon emissions that cause climate change are continuing to rise and, without sharp cuts, the world is set for “severe, widespread, and irreversible impacts”. This has led some to propose geoengineering but others have warned that unforeseen impacts of global-scale action to try to counteract warming could make the situation worse. Matthew Watson, at the University of Bristol, who led one of the studies in the £5m research programme, said: “We are sleepwalking to a disaster with climate change. Cutting emissions is undoubtedly the thing we should be focusing on but it seems to be failing. Although geoengineering is terrifying to many people, and I include myself in this, [its feasibility and safety] are questions that have to be answered.” Watson led the Stratospheric Particle Injection for Climate Engineering (Spice) project, which abandoned controversial attempts to test spraying droplets into the atmosphere from a balloon in 2012. But he said on Wednesday: “We will have to go outside eventually. There are just some things you cannot do in the lab.”Prof Steve Rayner at the University of Oxford, who led the Climate Geoengineering Governance project, said the research showed geoengineering was “neither a magic bullet nor a Pandora’s box”. But he said global security would be threatened unless an international treaty was agreed to oversee any sun-blocking projects. “For example, if India had put sulphate particles into the stratosphere, even as a test, two years before the recent floods in Pakistan, no one would ever persuade Pakistan that that had not caused the floods.” Here, Dr. Mike MacCracken fleshes out some additional ideas, including, very interesting possibilities for ice breakers and Arctic solar heat management.Yahoo:Dr Watson, principal investigator for the Spice project which is looking at ways of simulating the cooling effects of volcanoes, said: “Personally, this stuff terrifies me.“I’m easily terrified. I think if we ever deploy SRM (Solar Radiation Management) it will be the closest indication yet that we’ve failed as planetary stewards.“I believe that. It’s a watershed for our relationship with the Earth and with nature. It fundamentally changes the way seven billion people are going to interact with the world, and I’m not sure the system is going to be controllable in the way we want.” SRM envisages using water droplets or sulphur particles to reduce the amount of radiation from the Sun reaching the Earth, mimicking what happens after major volcanic eruptions. An early Spice experiment, one of the first to move geoengineering technology out of the laboratory, was cancelled in May amid controversy over alleged conflicts of interest. The trial would have used a weather balloon to inject 150 litres of piped water into the atmosphere. Scientists are still in the process of uncovering the potential hazards of geoengineering to counteract climate change. One of the biggest risks is disrupting the delicate balance of land and sea weather influences, resulting in drought and extreme rainfall in different parts of the world. Another danger specifically linked to sulphur particles is the destruction of atmospheric ozone, a vital barrier to harmful solar radiation that can trigger skin cancer and have damaging effects on plants and animals. Dr Watson, a reader in natural hazards from the University of Bristol, does not expect to see such technology deployed in this decade, but believes the day may come when it cannot be avoided. -- 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. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
