Hi Michael, It is clear that the Earth System is moving out of the norm of the past 8000 years (Holocene), far more rapidly than expected, and to the great consternation of many scientists.
There is something that struck me about all the interventions which may be called geoengineering: they are all intended to restore the Earth System, or components of the Earth System, back to or towards a previous state. This is most obvious for CO2, where we are aiming to reduce the atmospheric CO2 to below some past level: Professor Hansen has suggested bringing back the level below 350 ppm, which was the level in 1985, thirty years ago. Even more ambitiously we could aim to reduce all GHGs and restore CO2eq to 400 ppm, the level in 1985. A second example is the sea ice, where we could aim to restore it to the level in the 80s, before the accelerated retreat started. A third example is soil carbon, which should be restored to allow greater productivity while removing CO2 from the atmosphere. Thus geoengineering could be defined as "the management of the Earth System or a component of the Earth System to restore it to a previous condition which was safer, more sustainable and more productive." Many people seem to think of geoengineering as somehow immoral; but should we not regard it as part of our duty as stewards of the environment for the benefit of future generations? Cheers, John On Wed, Dec 23, 2015 at 8:43 PM, Michael Thompson <mich...@ceassessment.org> wrote: > Patrick Taylor Smith of the National University of Singapore weighs in on > the discussion about categorizing climate engineering proposals and > technologies- > > "I submit that we could easily resolve this debate if we adopted a new set > of conceptual categorizations for geoengineering strategies that emphasized > the relevant normative considerations for evaluating those strategies > rather than by physical mechanism." > > full post is here > <http://t.sidekickopen32.com/e1t/c/5/f18dQhb0S7lC8dDMPbW2n0x6l2B9nMJW7t5XZs5v7rlKW4WzrgK8r4N5-W2zGrQM56dCQXf3Trgcg02?t=http%3A%2F%2Fdcgeoconsortium.org%2F2015%2F12%2F23%2Fbuilding-better-concepts-in-geoengineering-why-bother-with-cdr-and-srm-patrick-taylor-smith%2F&si=5983818467508224&pi=bddc4d24-ca40-4696-c897-a6fd1a91504b>. > Your comments are welcomed. > > Upcoming posts on this topic from Noah Deich, Center for Carbon Removal, > and Stefan Schafer, Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies. > > The series of posts can be found here > <http://t.sidekickopen32.com/e1t/c/5/f18dQhb0S7lC8dDMPbW2n0x6l2B9nMJW7t5XZs5v7rlKW4WzrgK8r4N5-W2zGrQM56dCQXf3Trgcg02?t=http%3A%2F%2Fdcgeoconsortium.org%2Fcategory%2Fcdr-vs-srm%2F&si=5983818467508224&pi=bddc4d24-ca40-4696-c897-a6fd1a91504b> > . > > thanks, Michael > > -- > > > *Michael Thompson* > > *Managing DirectorForum for Climate Engineering Assessment * > School of International Service, American University > www.ceassessment.org > o - 202 885 2459 > m- 202 556 3776 > > > <http://t.sidekickopen32.com/e1t/c/5/f18dQhb0S7lC8dDMPbW2n0x6l2B9nMJW7t5XZs5v7rlKW4WzrgK8r4N5-W2zGrQM56dCQXf3Trgcg02?t=http%3A%2F%2Fceassessment.org%2F&si=5983818467508224&pi=bddc4d24-ca40-4696-c897-a6fd1a91504b> > > -- > 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 https://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 geoengineering+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to geoengineering@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/geoengineering. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
