Anything that cools the ocean surface is likely to have persistent effects on the heat and gas content of the ocean for centuries.
To describe MCB as being "forgotten in a few days" is simply counterfactual. A On 4 Feb 2016 15:28, "Stephen Salter" <[email protected]> wrote: > Dear Jim > > The initial effect of marine cloud brightening is to return sea surface > temperatures to the values that they were in the good old days. This is > done using only energy from the wind and materials already available in > enormous quantity at sea. > > We can choose the places and seasons relative to the phase of monsoons to > either increase precipitation in dry places or reduce it in wet ones. > > We may be able to moderate the bad effects of el Nino. > > If we make a mistake we can stop instantly and effects will be forgotten > in a few days. > > The annual cost of correcting the thermal effects since pre-industrial > times is probably below the annual cost of climate conferences. > > We can detect effects of spray from a single spray source by averaging > satellite photographs and increase spray rates slowly. > > Spray at high latitudes around the summer solstice will be particularly > effective in retaining Arctic ice. > > Lots of work has already been done on the hardware design. You were a bit > rude with your Rube Goldberg comment (quite insulting to engineers) and did > not reply to my polite email asking you for specific details. > > I ask you to imagine that work on marine cloud brightening, which might > have saved the Arctic ice, is delayed until the loss has passed a tripping > point. This messes up the jet stream even more than it is now with longer > drought in California and worse storms on the east Coast. It makes the > present migration problem orders of magnitude worse. > > The political trigger for the delay in research was something that you > wrote and the historians, humanists and policy makers believed. > > Stephen > > Emeritus Professor of Engineering Design. School of Engineering, > University of Edinburgh, Mayfield Road, Edinburgh EH9 3DW, Scotland > [email protected], Tel +44 (0)131 650 5704, Cell 07795 203 195, > WWW.homepages.ed.ac.uk/shs, YouTube Jamie Taylor Power for Change > On 04/02/2016 12:33, Jim Fleming wrote: > > Dear All, > > I wrote quote #2 in 2006 after attending the NASA-Ames meeting, when the > field of geoengineering was in a distinct "technological fix" mode. I was > appalled by the tone of the discourse I had just experienced and wanted to > alert the community of historians, humanists, and policy makers to the > outrageous claims for climate control circulating at the time. > > I wrote this as a prelude, a "hook" if you will, to a much longer history > of intervention. The community interested in these ideas is much larger > and somewhat more diverse now, and I am encouraged to see more humanists > making contributions, but still, most every week, I read of rather > outrageous notions for "controlling" Earth's climate. > > Jim Fleming > > - - - - - > James R. Fleming > Charles A. Dana Professor of Science, Technology, and Society, Colby > College > Series editor, Palgrave Studies in the History of Science and Technology > > *Inventing Atmospheric Science* (MIT Press, 2016), > https://mitpress.mit.edu/atmospheric-science > > Profile: http://www.colby.edu/directory/profile/jfleming/ > > "Everything is unprecedented if you don't study history." > > > On Thu, Feb 4, 2016 at 3:13 AM, Emily <[email protected]> wrote: > >> Hi all >> >> Useful looking list of books. >> >> 2 things jump out: >> >> 1. Lack of mention in the blurbs that IPCC relies upon CDR to have a >> chance of staying below 2degC (noting we need the limit to be lower still). >> Framing CDR as a back up plan, seems unjustifiable, as it is critical to >> the 'plan A' as I read it. >> >> 2. The blurb about 'Fixing the Sky' includes this phrase: "...Forget cuts >> in greenhouse gas emissions, some scientists argue. Instead, bounce >> sunlight back into space..." I wonder whether scientists really do say that >> at all. I don't see this as a real reflection of the discorse. >> >> Given these two thoughts, and the number of books available - making it >> tough to read them all, and my feeling that some of the books on offer >> clearly have an agenda, does anyone have a view which of these books gives >> a fairly balanced discussion, also accepting the IPCC view of the need for >> CDR and one which avoids slandering scientists generically? >> >> Thanks, >> Emily >> Sent from my BlackBerry® >> ------------------------------ >> *From: * Andrew Lockley <[email protected]> >> *Sender: * [email protected] >> *Date: *Wed, 3 Feb 2016 14:29:29 +0000 >> *To: *geoengineering<[email protected]> >> *ReplyTo: * [email protected] >> *Subject: *[geo] Bookshelf: Engineering the atmosphere - Yale Climate >> Connections >> >> >> http://www.yaleclimateconnections.org/2016/02/bookshelf-engineering-the-atmosphere/ >> >> Bookshelf: Engineering the Atmosphere >> By Michael Svoboda on Feb 2, 2016 >> >> This month's compendium of timely books address the multifaceted >> technological, political, social, economic, and ethical issues surrounding >> geoengineering, humanity's 'Plan B' (or X?) for combating excessive global >> warming. >> >> Geoengineering. For some it’s a prudent insurance policy to protect >> against what-if scenarios if societies’ efforts to combat excessive global >> warming fails to manage what modern societies themselves have created. For >> many others, it’s a last-resort, pull-out-all-the-stops Hail Mary pass >> fraught with its own problems and unknowns. >> >> This month’s climate bookshelf feature is again compiled by bibliophile >> Michael Svoboda of George Washington University, a former book-store owner >> and regular contributor. Descriptions are drawn from the publishers’ copy. >> >> How to Cool the Planet: Geoengineering and the Audacious Quest to Fix >> Earth’s Climate, by Jeff Goodell (Mariner Books, 2010; 276 pages, $14.95 >> paperback) >> >> Climate discussions often focus on potential impacts over a long period >> of time – several decades, a century even. But change could also happen >> much more suddenly. What if we had a real climate emergency – how could we >> cool the planet in a hurry? This question has led a group of scientists to >> pursue extreme solutions: huge contraptions that would suck CO2 from the >> air, machines that brighten clouds and deflect sunlight away from the >> earth, even artificial volcanoes that spray heat-reflecting particles into >> the atmosphere. This is the radical and controversial world of >> geoengineering. In How to Cool the Planet, Jeff Goodell explores the >> scientific, political, and moral aspects of geoengineering. . . . There are >> certainly risks, but Goodell persuades us that geoengineering may be our >> last best hope, a Plan B for the environment. >> >> Hack the Planet: Science’s Best Hope – or Worst Nightmare – for Averting >> Climate Catastrophe, by Eli Kintisch (Wiley, 2010; 280 pages, $25.95) >> >> Scientists are developing geoengineering techniques for worst-case >> scenarios. . . . [In Hack the Planet, Science magazine reporter] Kintisch >> outlines four: collapsing ice sheets, megadroughts, a catastrophic methane >> release, and slowing of the global ocean conveyor belt. As incredible and >> outlandish as many [geoengineering] plans may seem, could they soon become >> our only hope for avoiding calamity? Or will the plans of brilliant and >> well-intentioned scientists cause unforeseeable disasters? And does the >> advent of geoengineering mean that humanity has failed in its role as >> steward of the planet – or taken on a new responsibility? Kintisch’s >> investigation of the [possibilities and dangers of geoengineering] is >> required reading as the debate over global warming shifts to whether >> humanity should Hack the Planet. >> >> Geo-Engineering Climate Change: Environmental Necessity or Pandora’s >> Box?, Edited by Brian Launder and J. Michael T. Thompson >> (Cambridge University Press, 2010; 332 pages, $69.60 (at Amazon)) >> >> This book is the first to present a detailed and critical appraisal of >> the geo-scale engineering interventions that have been proposed as >> potential measures to counter the devastation of run-away global warming. >> Early chapters set the scene with a discussion of projections of future CO2 >> emissions and techniques for predicting climate tipping points. Subsequent >> chapters then review proposals to limit CO2 concentrations through improved >> energy technologies, removal of CO2 from the atmosphere, and stimulated >> uptake by the oceans. Schemes for solar radiation management involving the >> reflection of sunlight back into space and using artificially brightened >> clouds and stratospheric aerosols are also assessed. Pros and cons of the >> various schemes are thoroughly examined – throwing light on the passionate >> public debate about their safety. >> >> Fixing the Sky: The Checkered History of Weather and Climate Control, by >> James Rodger Fleming (Columbia University Press, 2010; 344 pages, $24.95 >> paperback) >> >> As alarm over global warming spreads, a radical idea is gaining momentum. >> Forget cuts in greenhouse gas emissions, some scientists argue. Instead, >> bounce sunlight back into space by pumping reflective nanoparticles into >> the atmosphere. Launch mirrors into orbit around the Earth. Make clouds >> thicker and brighter to create a “planetary thermostat.” . . . For more >> than a century, scientists, soldiers, and charlatans have tried to >> manipulate weather and climate, and like them, today’s climate engineers >> wildly exaggerate what is possible. Scarcely considering the political, >> military, and ethical implications of managing the world’s climate, these >> individuals hatch schemes with potential consequences that far outweigh >> anything their predecessors might have faced. [In Fixing the Sky], James >> Rodger Fleming traces the tragicomic history of the rainmakers, rain >> fakers, weather warriors, and climate engineers who have been both full of >> ideas and full of themselves. . . . [He] speaks to anyone who has a stake >> in sustaining the planet. >> >> Climate Change Geoengineering: Philosophical Perspectives, Legal Issues, >> and Governance Frameworks, Edited by Wil C. Burns and Andrew L. Strauss >> (Cambridge University Press, 2013; 328 pages, $35.99) >> >> The international community is not taking the action necessary to avert >> dangerous increases in greenhouse gases. Facing a potentially bleak future, >> the question that confronts humanity is whether the best of bad >> alternatives may be to counter global warming through human-engineered >> climate interventions. In this book, eleven prominent authorities on >> climate change consider the legal, policy, and philosophical issues >> presented by geoengineering. >> >> Earthmasters: The Dawn of the Age of Climate Engineering, by Clive >> Hamilton (Yale University Press, 2013; 264 pages, $20.00 paperback) >> >> International efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions have all failed, >> and before the end of the century Earth is projected to be warmer than it >> has been for 15 million years. The question “can the crisis be avoided?” >> has been superseded by a more frightening one, “what can be done to prevent >> the devastation of the living world?” . . . [In Earthmasters, Clive >> Hamilton] lays out the arguments for and against climate engineering, and >> reveals the extent of vested interests linking researchers, venture >> capitalists, and corporations. He then examines what it means for human >> beings to be making plans to control the planet’s atmosphere, probes the >> uneasiness we feel with the notion of exercising technological mastery over >> nature, and challenges the ways we think about ourselves and our place in >> the natural world. >> >> A Case for Climate Engineering, by David Keith (Boston Review Books / The >> MIT Press, 2013; 112 pages, $16.95) >> >> A leading scientist long concerned about climate change, Keith . . . >> argues that, after decades during which very little progress has been made >> in reducing carbon emissions, we must put [climate engineering] on the >> table and consider it responsibly. That doesn’t mean we will deploy it, and >> it doesn’t mean that we can abandon efforts to reduce greenhouse gas >> emissions. But we must understand fully what research needs to be done and >> how the technology might be designed and used. [He] provides a clear and >> accessible overview of what the costs and risks might be, and how climate >> engineering might fit into a larger program for managing climate change. >> >> Engineering the Climate: The Ethics of Solar Radiation Management, Edited >> by Christopher J. Preston (Lexington Books, 2013; 278 pages, $36.99 >> paperback) >> >> Climate engineering (also known as geoengineering) has recently >> experienced a surge of interest given the growing likelihood that the >> global community will fail to limit the temperature increases associated >> with greenhouse gases to safe levels. . . . One particular form, solar >> radiation management (SRM), is known to be relatively cheap and capable of >> bringing down global temperatures very rapidly. However, the complexity of >> the climate system creates considerable uncertainty about the precise >> nature of SRM’s effects in different regions. The ethical issues raised by >> the prospect of SRM are both complex and thorny. . . . A sustained and >> scholarly treatment of [these issues] is necessary before it will be >> possible to make fair and just decisions about whether (or how) to proceed. >> This book, including essays by 13 experts in the ethics of geoengineering, >> [begins that process]. >> >> Geoengineering of the Climate System, Edited by R. M. Harrison et al >> (Royal Society of Chemistry, 2014; 270 pp. $108.00 (Amazon)) >> >> Geoengineering of the Climate System presents an overview of the >> technologies currently being considered as large scale solutions to climate >> change, and considers some of the possible benefits and disadvantages of >> each. [With] invited contributions . . . by many of the leading experts on >> these technologies, the volume provides a comprehensive overview of both >> carbon dioxide reduction and solar radiation management methods [and then >> reviews the] important ethical and governance issues [to which they give >> rise]. Written with active researchers, postgraduate students and >> policy-makers in mind, this latest addition to the Issues in Environmental >> Science & Technology series presents a balanced and informed view of this >> important field of research and is an essential addition to any >> environmental science library. >> >> Can Science Fix Climate Change: A Case Against Climate Engineering, by >> Mike Hulme (Wiley/Polity, 2014; 144 pages, $12.95) >> >> Climate change seems to be an insurmountable problem. Political solutions >> have so far had little impact. Some scientists are now advocating the >> so-called “Plan B”, a more direct way of reducing the rate of future >> warming by reflecting more sunlight back to space, creating a thermostat in >> the sky. . . . Drawing upon a distinguished career studying the science, >> politics and ethics of climate change, Mike Hulme shows why using science >> to fix the global climate is undesirable, ungovern-able and unattainable. >> Science and technology should instead serve the more pragmatic goals of >> increasing societal resilience to weather risks, improving regional air >> quality and driving forward an energy technology transition. Seeking to >> reset the planet’s thermostat is not the answer. >> >> Climate Intervention: Carbon Dioxide Removal and Reliable Sequestration, >> by Committee on Geoengineering the Climate (National Academies Press, 2015; >> 154 pages, $49.95 paper) A PDF for this book can be downloaded for free >> from this webpage. >> >> As one of a two-book report, Climate Intervention: Carbon Dioxide Removal >> and Reliable Sequestration introduces possible CDR approaches and then >> discusses them in depth. Land management practices, such as low-till >> agriculture, reforestation and afforestation, ocean iron fertilization, and >> land-and-ocean-based accelerated weathering, could amplify the rates of >> processes that are already occurring as part of the natural carbon cycle. >> Other CDR approaches, such as bioenergy with carbon capture and >> sequestration, direct air capture and sequestration, and traditional carbon >> capture and sequestration, seek to capture CO2 from the atmosphere and >> dispose of it by pumping it underground at high pressure. This book looks >> at the pros and cons of these options and estimates possible rates of >> removal and total amounts that might be removed. >> >> Climate Intervention: Reflecting Sunlight to Cool Earth, by Committee on >> Geoengineering the Climate (National Academies Press, 2015; 154 pages, >> $49.95 paper) A PDF for this book can be downloaded for free from this >> webpage. >> >> As one of a two-book report, this volume discusses albedo modification – >> changing the fraction of incoming solar radiation that reaches the surface. >> This approach would deliberately modify the energy budget of Earth to >> produce a cooling designed to compensate for some of the effects of warming >> associated with greenhouse gas increases. The prospect of large-scale >> albedo modifcation raises political and governance issues at national and >> global levels, as well as ethical concerns. Climate Intervention: >> Reflecting Sunlight to Cool Earth discusses [these issues and concerns]. In >> the spirit of transparency [critical for these discussions, this report] >> was based on peer-reviewed literature and the judgments of the authoring >> committee; no new research was done as part of this study and all data and >> information used are from entirely open sources. . . . [Leaders should >> understand] the consequences of albedo modification approaches before they >> face a decision whether or not to use them. >> >> Experiment Earth: Responsible Innovation in Geoengineering, by Jack >> Stilgoe (Routledge/Earthscan, 2015; 222 pages, $145.00) >> >> Experiments in geoengineering – intentionally manipulating the Earth’s >> climate to reduce global warming – have become the focus of a vital debate >> about responsible science and innovation. Drawing on three years of >> sociological research working with scientists on one of the world’s first >> major geoengineering projects, this book examines the politics of >> experimentation. Geoengineering provides a test case for rethinking the >> responsibilities of scientists and asking how science can take better care >> of the futures that it helps bring about. This book gives students, >> researchers and the general reader interested in the place of science in >> contemporary society a compelling framework for future thinking and >> discussion. >> >> The Planet Remade: How Geoengineering Could Change the World, by Oliver >> Morton (Princeton University Press, 2015; 440 pages, $29.95) >> >> The Planet Remade explores the history, politics, and cutting-edge >> science of geoengineering. Morton weighs both the promise and perils of >> these controversial strategies and puts them in the broadest possible >> context. The past century’s changes to the planet – to the clouds and the >> soils, to the winds and the seas, to the great cycles of nitrogen and >> carbon – have been far more profound than most of us realize. Appreciating >> those changes clarifies not just the scale of what needs to be done about >> global warming, but also our relationship to nature. . . . [Morton] >> addresses the deep fear that comes with seeing humans as a force of nature, >> and asks what it might mean . . . to try and use that force . . . to meet >> the challenge of climate change. >> >> Systems Thinking for Geoengineering Policy: How to Reduce the Threat of >> Dangerous Climate Change by Embracing Uncertainty and Failure, by Robert >> Chris (Routledge / Earthscan, 2015; 212 pages, $145.00) >> >> Systems Thinking for Geoengineering Policy is the first book to [discuss] >> geoengineering in terms of complex adaptive systems theory and to argue for >> the theoretical imperative of adaptive management . . . for confronting the >> inescapable uncertainty and surprise that characterize potential climate >> futures. The book illustrates how a shift from the conventional >> Enlightenment paradigm of linear reductionist thinking, in favor of systems >> thinking, would promote robust policies [for] the widest range of plausible >> futures . . . and could also unlock the policy paralysis caused by making >> [agreement on] long term predictions a prior condition for policy >> formulation. It also offers some systems-driven reflections on a global >> governance network for geoengineering. >> >> FILED UNDER: book reviews, climate engineering,geoengineering, Michael >> Svoboda >> -- >> 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 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 [email protected]. >> To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. >> 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 [email protected]. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > 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 [email protected]. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/geoengineering. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. > > The University of Edinburgh is a charitable body, registered in > Scotland, with registration number SC005336. > > -- > 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 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. 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