Geoengineering – race against time?

Welcome to my blog – I hope you enjoy reading my posts! 

Last month, it was reported that we have effectively passed the 400 parts per million (ppm) CO₂ atmospheric threshold (The Guardian, 2016).  This means that current climate change governance has failed to address rising CO₂ emissions in the atmosphere, and efforts need to be intensified if we are to prevent irreversible climate change.

Scientists have strongly argued the “Holocene” has now ended, and we have entered the “Anthropocene”; a geological epoch solely defined by human impacts on the environment (Steffen et al, 2015). We are effectively in a race against time to salvage what we can of our precious Earth: our acidifying oceans, our burning forests, species on the brink of extinction and the polluted air we breathe. The below picture is not only moving, but symbolises the vulnerability of our tiny planet: a minuscule dot in the universe.

The iconic “Blue Marble” image as captured by Apollo 17 in 1972. Source: NASA

From Palaeolithic tool-making to the steam engine, some of the human race’s best achievements are innovation-related. Surely then, we can innovate ourselves out of climate change and associated issues?

Cue geoengineering: the extensive, deliberate manipulation of the Earth’s climate system to curb anthropogenic CO₂ emissions and other pressures (Oldham et al, 2014).

It is often proposed as a cost-effective, simple solution to climate change in an ever-changing world. The clip below shows “cloud seeding”: enhancing rainfall in an arid UAE climate.

But at what, if any, cost are such measures undertaken? A simple Google search reflects the shocking extent to public suspicion and paranoia surrounding this contentious method. 

The controversy surrounding geoengineering is what initially attracted me to learn more, as well as the way it intersects environment, policy, technology and culture. I feel geoengineering needs to be deconstructed, i.e. each component explored and critically analysed. The aims of my blog, are, therefore:

•      To establish whether geoengineering is a safe and feasible solution to mitigate         climate  change impacts
•      To analyse the effectiveness and potential impacts of different techniques
•      To explore the ethical limitations of such techniques

Watch this space for more interesting posts!