Cogently and convincingly argued. We need to do this (reduce and then eliminate carbon emissions) in any case, whether or not geoengineering of any kind is implemented. Besides the self-serving lies of the fossil-fuel powers (and I blame individuals, not just anonymous corporations), we have inertia and laziness (I count myself in that category), short-term cost vs. long-term cost (solar panels, Teslas and whatnot cost more than many can or want to pay), and especially, the dramatic increase in the acceptance of lying and fantasy by the public, in the US and elsewhere. All of these reduce the rapidity of emissions reductions. Is the "moral hazard" (let's just shoot reflective particles into the stratosphere and continue on our not-so-merry way) a greater threat than self interest and all the rest of those things blocking emissions reductions? I don't know the answer to that. The contrast between the alarmed sense of absolute emergency that most of us on this list and many in the public feel about climate change, and the dawdling and lying about it, is remarkable.
On Sat, Feb 20, 2021 at 11:20 AM Alan Robock ☮ <[email protected]> wrote: > Kolbert's book is great, as is the interview. But the introduction has > mistakes. Pinatubo erupted in 1991. It's resulting sulfuric acid cloud > covered the entire Earth. The current annual anthropogenic carbon > emissions (in 2019) were about 43 Gt CO2 ( > https://www.carbonbrief.org/analysis-global-fossil-fuel-emissions-up-zero-point-six-per-cent-in-2019-due-to-china > ), which is 11.7 Gt carbon, not 40 Gt carbon. > > And saying "it seems unlikely that mankind will reach the two-degrees > celsius reduction target of the Paris Climate Accord" is confusing. There > is no temperature reduction target. But more importantly, this defeatist > attitude works against mitigation efforts. Certainly, mankind can rapidly > reduce greenhouse gas emissions with concerted educational and governmental > action to fight the selfish fossil fuel companies. See Mike Mann's new > book, *The New Climate Wars*, to educate yourself about all their efforts > to confuse and divide the public. Look at the efforts and emphasis on this > topic by the new Biden administration. And if the risks of solar > geoengineering, both in the physical climate system (e.g., the title of > Kolbert's book, *Under A White Sky*) and the very difficult governance > challenges become so overwhelming, this will aid the increased push to > mitigation. We face a problem created by humans. And humans can solve it. > > Alan > > Alan Robock, Distinguished Professor > Chair-Elect, AGU College of Fellows > Associate Editor, *Reviews of Geophysics* > Department of Environmental Sciences Phone: +1-848-932-5751 > Rutgers University E-mail: > [email protected] > 14 College Farm Road http://people.envsci.rutgers.edu/robock > New Brunswick, NJ 08901-8551 ☮ https://twitter.com/AlanRobock > > "I've got a feeling 21 is going to be a good year" - The Who from the > album *Tommy* > > [image: Signature] > > > On 2/19/2021 9:00 PM, Andrew Lockley wrote: > > > > https://www.documentjournal.com/2021/02/in-a-warming-world-an-engineered-climate-edges-towards-reality/ > > > In a warming world, an engineered climate edges towards reality By Alex > Hodor-Lee > Above The Fold > > In a warming world, an engineered climate edges towards reality > Read time 24 minutes > > In a warming world, an engineered climate edges towards reality > Text by Alex Hodor-Lee > > Photography by Alex Hodor-Lee > > Interview by Elizabeth Kolbert > > Posted February 9, 2021 > Four environmental experts weigh in on the peril and promise of a > 'geoengineered' Earth > > 1816 was dubbed “the year without summer.” In 1815, Indonesia’s Mount > Tambora erupted; the largest volcanic eruption in recorded history, it left > a wake of catastrophic aftermath. “There were still on the roadside the > remains of several corpses, and the marks of where many others had been > interred: the villages almost entirely deserted and the houses fallen down, > the surviving inhabitants having dispersed in search of food,” Sir Stamford > Raffles, a British colonial officer, observed. In addition to lava and an > eight-inch blanket of ash, the volcano belched out millions of tons of > aerosol, effectively blocking large swaths of sun rays from reaching > Earth’s surface, cooling the planet by three degrees celsius. > > In 1992, in a province in the neighboring Philippines, there was another > cataclysmic explosion. The eruption of Mount Pinatubo released 20 million > tons of sulfur dioxide into the stratosphere, creating an expansive > chemical cloud spanning 200 miles long, again blocking the sun’s rays, > lowering Earth’s temperature by 0.5 degrees celsius over the next two years. > > These naturally occurring cooling phenomena have today’s climate > scientists wondering whether we, in service of combatting man-made climate > warming, can use science and technology to simulate organic methods of > lowering Earth’s temperature. Can we cool the planet? And, if we can, > should we? Once considered the stuff of science fiction, geoengineering—the > umbrella term for large-scale, intentional climate intervention—is now a > radical solution for an ever-warming world. > > Much in the same way that social distancing, masks, and ultimately a > vaccine help flatten the Covid curve, climate intervention proponents > believe engineering techniques—chiefly, solar radiation management—might > “shave the peak” of average global temperatures by using different > technologies to re-radiate sunlight out of the atmosphere. Shaving the peak > may avert runaway climate scenarios or hothouse effects—feedback loops > triggered in Earth’s climatological regime. One runaway scenario involves > Greenland’s thawing permafrost: if it indeed melts away, it will reveal > heat-absorbing earth, and possibly release methane deposits, the magnitudes > of which will severely accelerate warming. > > With 40 gigatons of carbon being pumped into the atmosphere each year, it > seems unlikely that mankind will reach the two-degrees celsius reduction > target of the Paris Climate Accord. As we edge towards climate midnight, > radical solutions are looking more and more appealing. In our failure to > change our habits, we now consider changing our habitat. So, > geoengineering, once fringe science, has entered into the debate over what > is scientifically possible and perhaps even necessary in the battle to > preserve the planet. > > “If there is to be an answer to the problem of control, it’s going to be > more control,” writes author Elizabeth Kolbert. Kolbert, a staff writer at > The New Yorker, is the author of several books, including the Pulitzer > Prize-winning, The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History. For two decades > Kolbert has traversed our blue planet investigating and communicating > nature’s chief environmental stressor: humans. Her latest book, Under A > White Sky: The Nature of the Future (out today!), is a study of man’s > interventions in nature, including electrifying rivers and lab-grown super > coral. “What could possibly go wrong?” Kolbert writes of these solutions, > later asking, “What’s the alternative? Rejecting such technologies as > unnatural isn’t going to bring back nature. The choice is not between what > is, but between what is and what will be, which often enough, is nothing.” > > Kolbert joins Document to moderate a roundtable discussion with David > Keith, Kelly Wanser, and Holly Jean Buck, as they discuss—for all of its > peril and promise—the future of climate intervention. > > For decades, Harvard professor David Keith has led research on > stratospheric aerosol injection, a solar radiation management technique, > which involves uniformly spraying aerosols into Earth’s upper atmosphere to > reflect sunlight away from the Earth, thereby cooling the planet. Keith, > with a team of Harvard University scientists and researchers will undertake > their first field experiment in June. > > Kelly Wanser is Executive Director of SilverLining, an NGO working with > stakeholders to advance research of large-scale technological innovations, > namely Marine Cloud Brightening. MCB, as it’s known, involves seeding > clouds with trillions of salt particles per second in an effort to make > them brighter, re-radiating the sun’s heat away from Earth. > > Holly Jean Buck is a professor of environment and sustainability at the > University at Buffalo. Her 2019 book, After Geoengineering: Climate > Tragedy, Repair and Restoration is a cogitation on power and equity and > adds an edge of stark moral conscience to intervention discourse. Buck > worries large-scale interventions will exacerbate inequity as we near > deployment scenarios. A best case scenario, Buck writes, involves not > writing these expansive programs or deploying these technologies at all. > -- > 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 view this discussion on the web visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/geoengineering/CAJ3C-07LpNsMQuWKMJi2uMAM5%3D3%2BEekbKcVhijDj-JLPd4A4LA%40mail.gmail.com > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/geoengineering/CAJ3C-07LpNsMQuWKMJi2uMAM5%3D3%2BEekbKcVhijDj-JLPd4A4LA%40mail.gmail.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> > . > > > -- > 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 view this discussion on the web visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/geoengineering/d14bcbb2-069f-c4fb-9553-bfd6dd0413db%40envsci.rutgers.edu > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/geoengineering/d14bcbb2-069f-c4fb-9553-bfd6dd0413db%40envsci.rutgers.edu?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> > . > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "geoengineering" group. 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