In 2007, David Keith spoke about geoengineering at TEDSalon. I highly recommend that you watch it as he discusses a range of issues and gives a convincing argument as to why public debate about geoengineering is important.
He presents a thought: if an alien came to Earth and gifted us with a box with two dials, one controlling global temperature and the other global CO2, wars would be fought over that box. He says that scientists are currently creating that box, and we must be ready with a treaty to act cooperatively when it is inevitably completed. I hope that none of you receive this box for Christmas though! Merry Christmas!
I've always found this Ted talk very compelling, but what are your thoughts on geoengineering? Do you think we will be using these methods to tackle climate change?
ReplyDeleteHi Fay, I'm glad you also enjoyed it! I think that geoengineering has great potential to help us (like the example David Keith gives in the video of a temporary use of aerosols to save Arctic sea ice) but we need to be very cautious pursuing it. For SRM techniques like in the video, a global governance framework is essential and strict regulations need to be in place. I think the moral hazard of geoengineering is understated a lot; it is essential that geoengineering is not seen as 'get out of jail free card' to continue burning fossil fuels so excessively.
DeleteNo doubt, I agree that a governance framework is essential before any large-scale forms of geoengineering is deployed. But isn't it interesting to find that no one has really attempted to develop such frameworks, yet we continue looking into geoengineering. I wonder if we should start thinking about who governs geoengineering before we start 'getting our toys out', or whether we will worry about this when we need to.
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