The Sorcerer’s Apprentice: Geoengineering, Hubris and Reality
Geoengineering Catch 22, what if the problem is that we don’t even know what the problem is? As such the problem is more of human ignorance and incapacity to make rational choices rather than a technological one per se. If that is the case then clearly “the solution” is education. Obviously we need to get the public to realize that geoengineering is no solution and to understand just how great the risks are, however.
Must We Hack Our Planet’s Atmosphere?
The failure of recent efforts to curb greenhouse-gas emissions has built some momentum toward expanding research on geoengineering options. Although everything possible must be done to shift to a sustainable and energy-efficient economy – along with changing to simple life-styles and putting a cap on the world’s population – all this will not be enough to eliminate the danger of runaway climate change.
Somehow, we have to find a safe way to remove the huge amount of excess carbon dioxide in our atmosphere. To analogize, diet and medicine alone won’t cure our planet; surgery will also be required. Too much CO2 in our atmosphere not only contributes to global heating, sea-level rise, more severe storms and desertification; it has also caused a 30% increase in ocean acidification, and this too threatens the life of everything on Earth.
Cleaning Up the Excess CO2
The other way to reduce the air’s excess CO2 is to unbalance the carbon cycle, typically by preventing some of the CO2 captured by photosynthesis from going back into the air when cells decompose. One has to stash dead biomass where the air can’t get to it. While sealed landfills help, it is only the ocean depths that would appear to have the capacity to draw down all of the CO2 that we have added since 1750.
