And for the record, ours was (I think we used the full word limit that was allowable):
Session Description: Sharp reductions in short- and long-lived greenhouse gas emissions must be the primary objective for limiting global warming. Accomplishing this will take decades, however. Despite efforts to adjust, adapt, and enhance resilience, impacts will build over time, especially for those most geographically, economically, and politically vulnerable. For these reasons, new kinds of affirmative efforts aimed at altering the climate system, collectively known as geoengineering, warrant serious consideration. First, with significant research, increasing the uptake and sequestering of carbon by the oceans and soils and/or industrial scrubbing could, over many decades and with substantial investment, become an important component of stabilizing the climate once global emissions are substantially reduced. Second, counterbalancing the remaining climatic effects and impacts by reducing the uptake and retention of energy by the climate system may be another option. Scientists and policymakers have identified a number of potential approaches to such climate engineering (e.g., by increasing the planetary albedo), but many scientific, technological, ethical and political questions remain to be addressed before it could be considered a viable policy option. These include: Technical Considerations: What scientific, engineering, environmental and societal cost/benefit/impact analysis research is needed to establish the plausibility and viability of climate engineering capabilities for: (a) stabilizing the climate on a global basis (or even possibly on a primarily regional or specific impact-focused basis) and then gradually offsetting detrimental changes of the recent past, and/or (b) preventing the onset of rapidly accelerating adverse impacts projected once particular thresholds are crossed? What kinds of resources and research effort would be needed to reduce uncertainties sufficiently to provide policymakers with an assessment of future risks and benefits of global warming with and without application of various approaches to climate engineering? Societal and Governance Considerations: What are the near-term policy implications, if any, of the increasing scientific and political interest in climate engineering? What are the risks from outdoor climate engineering research and how should they be governed? Were climate-engineering capabilities to be theoretically demonstrated, what are the governance implications, requirements, pathways, and timelines for moving from concept to plausible policy consideration and application? What are the ethical, cultural and societal implications for the natural environment, nations and their citizens, and future generations were climate engineering to become a viable policy option? How do these implications compare to policy options that do not include climate engineering? Who are the appropriate actors in the near term to address the issue? Mike PS‹So Greg, yes, we did include carbon removal in terms of governance perspectives. I think there was another proposal on the means for doing it. On 1/22/15, 10:05 AM, "Alan Robock" <[email protected]> wrote: > > Dear Andrew, > > I would not express it like that. First, it should be sober. Second, since > there are no outdoor experiments to report on, a lot of the work will be > modeling, although proposals for outdoor experiments, with clear science > questions that can only be answered that way, will be welcome, as will ideas > for governance of such experiments. Third, science should always be > communicated in a way that is understandable. > > Since the final sessions have not been established yet, and what we proposed > (see below) may be combined with other topics, as Mike mentioned, we will have > to see what the final scope of topics will be. > > Our proposed session abstract was: > > Geoengineering has been discussed extensively by IPCC for the first time in > the AR5 report, but that report will be two years out of date at the time of > this conference. Much research continues to be produced investigating the > climate response to various proposals for radiation management, particularly > artificial stratospheric aerosols, marine cloud brightening, and cirrus cloud > thinning. This session will only address radiation management geoengineering, > and not carbon dioxide reduction. It will include new results from the > Geoengineering Model Intercomparison Project, which is designed to understand > robust climate model response to radiation geoengineering. This session > invites presentations on physical, agricultural, and ecological impacts of > anthropogenic control of the climate, and will contrast the potential risks > and benefits of future climates with various future pathways of anthropogenic > emissions, with and without geoengineering. > > Alan > > Alan Robock, Distinguished Professor > Editor, Reviews of Geophysics > Director, Meteorology Undergraduate Program > Department of Environmental Sciences Phone: +1-848-932-5751 > Rutgers University Fax: +1-732-932-8644 > 14 College Farm Road E-mail: [email protected] > New Brunswick, NJ 08901-8551 USA http://envsci.rutgers.edu/~robock > http://twitter.com/AlanRobock > Watch my 18 min TEDx talk at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsrEk1oZ-54 > On 1/22/2015 2:30 AM, Andrew Lockley wrote: > > >> >> >> What kind of content are you looking for? I assume it's mainly fairly >> sober,mainstream modelling work, dumbed down for policy makers? >> >> >> A >> >> On 21 Jan 2015 15:27, "Alan Robock" <[email protected]> wrote: >> >>> Dear All, >>> >>> Along with Ben Kravitz and Ulrike Niemeier, I have proposed a session on >>> geoengineering at the International Scientific Conference ³Our Common Future >>> under Climate Change,² which will take place at UNESCO HQ in Paris, July >>> 7-10, 2015. The deadline for abstract submissions is March 1, 1800 GMT. >>> While all the details of the parallel sessions have not yet been worked out, >>> please keep this in mind over the next 6 weeks so that you can plan to >>> submit an abstract and attend the conference. This conference was organized >>> to inform negotiators and the public of the state of climate science in >>> preparation for the Conference of the Parties to be held in Paris in >>> December. You can read more at: >>> >>> http://www.commonfuture-paris2015.org/ >>> >>> The themes for the parallel sessions are at: >>> http://www.commonfuture-paris2015.org/How-to-Contribute/Parallel-Sessions/Pa >>> rallel-Sessions-Themes.htm >>> >>> -- >>> Alan Robock >>> >>> Alan Robock, Distinguished Professor >>> Editor, Reviews of Geophysics >>> Director, Meteorology Undergraduate Program >>> Department of Environmental Sciences Phone: +1-848-932-5751 >>> <tel:%2B1-848-932-5751> >>> Rutgers University Fax: +1-732-932-8644 >>> <tel:%2B1-732-932-8644> >>> 14 College Farm Road E-mail: [email protected] >>> New Brunswick, NJ 08901-8551 USA http://envsci.rutgers.edu/~robock >>> <http://envsci.rutgers.edu/%7Erobock> >>> http://twitter.com/AlanRobock >>> Watch my 18 min TEDx talk at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsrEk1oZ-54 >>> >>> -- >>> 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] >>> <mailto:geoengineering%[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. >>> >> >> > > -- 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.
