I'm not sure how seriously to take the prospect of large scale glacier-wrapping, ice covering, or rock painting. But, thinking optimistically about it, perhaps the increasing recent coverage of such schemes can provide a *reverse* moral hazard. As seen in this post <https://plastocene.com/2018/03/13/solar-power-nerdiness-and-the-terrifying-problem-of-albedo/> from a week ago, that is one of the few good things that might come out of it. https://plastocene.com/2018/03/13/solar-power-nerdiness-and-the-terrifying-problem-of-albedo
On Monday, March 19, 2018 at 3:25:36 PM UTC-6, Greg Rau wrote: > > Some examples of geoengineering that apparently are not deterred by moral > hazards are Swiss glacier wrapping: > https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2018/03/swiss-residents-are-wrapping-glaciers-in-blankets-to-keep-them-from-melting > > and Peruvian mountain whitewashing: > http://foreignpolicy.com/2010/06/17/painting-the-andes-white/ Were is > the moral outrage? Perhaps it has to do with scale; these are not (yet) > going to alter global climate/effects at the scales currently practiced so > the moral hazards police and magical thinking monitors can cut them some > slack(?). But then there are those slippery slope arguments; This needs to > be nipped in the bud because before you know it we'll be wrapping and > painting the entire planet. Unclear what the CO2 footprint is of wrapping a > glacier or painting a mountain; that plastic has to come from and go to > somewhere, and the paint: lime, eggs and water isn't exactly CO2-emissions > free, though the CO2-reabsorbing qualities of the lime is a nice touch, as > is World Bank sponsorship. No one seems to be talking about the downstream > impacts of plastic and paint leaching, not to mention the effects on > ecosystems that inhabit glacier and rock surfaces - acceptable casualties? > Greg > > > -- 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.
