Geoengineering Steps Toward Reality—Once viewed skeptically, plans … gain traction [View All]

[OKIsItJustMe]

http://pubs.acs.org/isubscribe/journals/cen/87/i47/html/8747gov1.html

November 23, 2009 | Volume 87, Number 47 | pp. 28 - 30

Geoengineering Steps Toward Reality

Once viewed skeptically, plans for intentional intervention in earth’s climate gain traction

Cheryl Hogue

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These and other geoengineering schemes that might weaken the effects of human-induced global warming may seem like science fiction. In the past, they’ve been dismissed as far too risky or imprudent for mainstream scientists or policymakers to consider seriously.

Today, however, geoengineering proposals are starting to get lots of attention. Geoengineering increasingly seems to offer viable, science-backed options for averting the worst of predicted global warming. It doesn’t offer a silver bullet solution, however. The technologies involve trade-offs that are likely to generate powerful opponents, and their deployment may be influenced by international treaties over outer space and Earth’s atmosphere and oceans.

Perhaps most responsible for bringing the idea of geoengineering into the public consciousness is the just-released best-selling book “SuperFreakonomics.” It offers quirky slants on issues from drunken driving (arguing that it’s better for the boozed up to get behind the wheel than walk short distances) to prostitution (not as profitable as in decades past because of the increase in casual sex). Written by economist http://pricetheory.uchicago.edu/levitt/home.html">Steven D. Levitt and journalist http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/author/stephen-j-dubner/">Stephen J. Dubner, the book argues that geoengineering is an easier, less-expensive way to deal with climate change than transforming the world’s economy to low-carbon energy.

And now, scientists and policymakers alike are taking a hard, calculated look at intervening in vast natural systems that are essential to life. They point out, however, that for the past 150 or so years, societies have been involved in an unintentional geoengineering experiment by raising the level of atmospheric carbon dioxide.

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