https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/2514848619844771
- ermissions <https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/2514848619844771#> Explore More Download PDF Stratospheric imperialism: Liberalism, (eco)modernization, and ideologies of solar geoengineering research Kevin Surprise <https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/2514848619844771> First Published April 18, 2019 Research Article <https://crossmark.crossref.org/dialog?doi=10.1177%2F2514848619844771&domain=journals.sagepub.com&uri_scheme=https%3A&cm_version=v2.0> https://doi.org/10.1177/2514848619844771 [image: Article Information] [image: PDF download for Stratospheric imperialism: Liberalism, (eco)modernization, and ideologies of solar geoengineering research] <https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/2514848619844771> [image: Article has an altmetric score of 12] <https://www.altmetric.com/details.php?domain=journals.sagepub.com&citation_id=59359469> [image: No Access] Abstract Once a fringe notion, solar geoengineering via Stratospheric Aerosol Injection (SAI) is gaining traction as a climate management tactic within mainstream institutions and factions of the climate justice movement. Cautious considerations of SAI are driven by the layered realities of climate urgency, political inaction, and the potential for climate impacts to harm the most vulnerable. This narrative is difficult to dispute, yet it originates from leading centers of SAI research—particularly the Harvard Solar Geoengineering Research Program (HSGRP)—that construct the “necessity” of research, experimentation, and potential deployment under ideological pretenses aimed at maintaining the hegemony of liberal-capitalism. Hence, advanced under the auspices of HSGRP, SAI would constitute a form of imperialism rather than a tool for climate justice. I link SAI to theories of capitalist imperialism, and situate HSGRP within Harvard’s legacy shaping U.S. imperialism and position as a nodal point of liberal-capitalist power. In this context, I identify three dominant ideologies undergirding SAI research at Harvard—ecomodernism, Realist International Relations theory, and Keynesianism—that construct a specific narrative whereby established climate solutions (liberal-capitalist ecomodernism) are frustrated by “anarchical” international politics, leaving the poor vulnerable to near-term climate impacts. SAI is thus positioned as a mechanism capable of buying time for market-driven policy and reducing near-term climate risk. HSGRP directly counter poses this approach to radical elements of the climate justice movement that address capitalism as the root cause of both climate change and global poverty. *Keywords *Geoengineering <https://journals.sagepub.com/keyword/Geoengineering>, capitalist imperialism <https://journals.sagepub.com/keyword/Capitalist+Imperialism>, ideology <https://journals.sagepub.com/keyword/Ideology>, climate justice <https://journals.sagepub.com/keyword/Climate+Justice>, Harvard University <https://journals.sagepub.com/keyword/Harvard+University> -- 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. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/geoengineering/CAJ3C-04SE6iz311OLRxGerB9VU5D_VxTqjsm_oR0PA4o43nGZw%40mail.gmail.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
