Geoengineering

Geoengineering

Find the articles Here and Here

Summary:

Geoengineering tackles climate change in two different ways. First, by restricting the amount of solar radiation that reaches earth, and second by lowering the amount of CO2 on earth. The former is done by doing things such as creating artificial clouds, putting water into the atmosphere and making clouds "shinier". The latter is done by creating artificial trees, or by putting elements such as lime in oceans which would naturally take in more CO2 in turn. But there is a problem with the method of restricting the amount of solar radiation that reaches the earth. It is a remedy for the most common symptom of climate change, but not a cure for climate change. It makes it so that temperatures no longer rise, CO2 has other effects as well. However, even with all the skepticism of geoengineering, it is quite likely our future. If we continue on our current path of creating CO2, we will likely need it. But once we inevitably start using Geoengineering, we need to do it responsibly. We need to organize it, we need to regulate it. We cannot allow companies to deploy it in unregulated and reckless ways.

Analysis:

I don't really think that geoengineering is a solution to climate change, but is rather just a way of delaying the inevitable change from a carbon-based economy. Really it's the exact opposite of what we need, as we would just be fixing a problem caused by non-renewable energy by using a non-renewable material(such as the aerosols that we would spray in clouds or the lime we would put into an ocean.) Geoengineering could definitely be helpful in the future, but as something to delay climate change while we find a more permanent solution, rather than as a permanent solution. However it is very likely that, just as James Wilsdon said, it is quite possible that we will end up using geoengineering as a permanent solution to climate change, and this is a problem.

Wilsdon, James. "Don't Dismiss Geoengineering – We May Need It One Day." The Guardian. May 17, 2012. Accessed January 30, 2013. http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/blog/2012/may/17/geoengineering-spice-project-research.

"What Is Geoengineering?" The Guardian. February 18, 2011. http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/feb/18/geo-engineering.