Plans to cool the Earth by blocking sunlight are gaining momentum but critical voices risk being excluded.
Plans to cool the Earth by blocking sunlight are gaining momentum but critical voices risk being excluded.
The risks of solar geoengineering will be magnified if critics are ignored and researchers are allowed to self-regulate.
What could possibly go wrong?
They tried it in the Piers Anthony book Rings of Ice and that ended up absolutely terribly when the ice they took into space started melting and causing unending flooding.
So like... Don't build it out of ice then? Also it's a book that may or may not be fully accurate, and should be taken as a thought experiment and story
There are plenty of valid concerns but that is not one of them lol
Billionaires: Lets just continue like we do, because uh we can like invent something to reverse it later you know?
As if it is only billionaires... lol
Exactly. Our problems stem from ordinary people, most of whom either protect and fund the billionaires or actively revere them.
What fraction of Americans want to end factory farming? How many want to disincentivize car use or even - heaven forbid - raise gas prices? Almost no one. The average person on this planet is a selfish shortsighted monster.
They'll kill everything rather than just consume less. We should round them up. Place them in a deep holding cell in a pit. We can call it Sheol, and the person who feeds and waters them daily can be granted the title of Charon.
We'll disperse into decentralized communities hardly bigger than villages. Then, maybe, before we try this whole industrial thing again, we can learn to respect and revere the world and the life around us.
Not saying this will work but its better than blocking out the fucking sun, our main source of energy.
They = 95% of the population in developed & developing countries. No one wants to be affected by actually useful climate policies, no company, no politician, no voter. Those who actually do are a minuscule minority. Otherwise we'd see vastly different parties and votes. So if we're real for a second, drastic dumb shit like this is likely the only thing that can still save us.
It sucks we're in the minority then. I'd be ecstatic to change this entire society up.
While the article takes no solid position about the benefits and harms of alleviating global warming with solar geoengineering, it does correctly point out that discussion and governance of the subject is lacking.
Some hypothetical examples:
Case A:
- a coastal country experiences increased storm surges, a large percentage of its population stands at risk, it perceives climate change as an existential risk
- this country decides to engage in solar geoengieering to cool the planet, however its neigbours on higher ground don't perceive a risk from warming, instead they fear that wind patterns could change and deprive them of rainfall
- they accuse each other of violating each other's rights, start a trade dispute and eventually make war
Case B:
- lots of people are convinced that efforts to control climate change by reducing carbon output have failed
- they decide to go for solar geoengineering, but the predicted impact on food production is -10%
- this affects the poorest of people most adversely, but there is no compensation mechanism
- cooling the planet succeeds, but results in outbreaks of famine
Case C:
- lots of people are convinced that efforts to reduce emissions have failed
- solar geoengineering allows to cool the planet to pre-industrial levels
- does incentive to reduce emissions disappear now?
- if the cooling effect is terminated, extremely fast warming may now happen
Myself, I perceive this as a last resort. If reasonable measures don't save the day, this is one of the less reasonable measures that could buy time. I would like people to research this, so that capability would exist. But I would not be easily convinced of the necessity of taking action, as long as alternatives remain.
Ah yes the "skip the realities of building orbital megastructures" phase of capitalism.
Can we get like, uh, a space elevator first?
While these projects will never succeed, there's a lot of money into lobbying for getting them funds for technical analysis, environmental impact and other paper work related things.
Worst things that can happen is they produce a budget out of their asses, and one month into construction there's an oopsies and actually the budget is more than estimated. 5 years in, we're 10% complete but already spent 500% of the budget. Like any airport, hospital or rail project.
Highlander 2 becoming prophecy?
Let me off this timeline please
I hope we do a Snowpiercer just to watch these fuckers die tbh
Imagine if it happens but not because of science but because of the profit from the commercial contracts. Let's get rich so we can live the life of luxury in a sunless abyss of organic survival adaptations.