Every year, during the climate talks such as the one happening in Paris right now, the topic of geoengineering never fails to come up.
Geoengineering is just what it sounds like: engineering the Earth to achieve a favorable outcome.
Apparently, it’s a concept that’s been around since the ‘70s; even Word’s spell check recognizes it as a legitimate word despite its iffy nature.
Bioengineering and its many ways. (GIF from ChooseClimate.org)
And why shouldn’t it be a bit iffy? Geoengineering is essentially hacking the planet’s natural systems—whether that be the oceans, the soil, forests, or even the weather. The mere fact that our continued reliance on fossil fuels has been driving temperatures up to unprecedented levels for decades is already geoengineering at work. Climate scientists just want to be able to curb the rising temperature of the planet, to prevent, if not reverse, its disastrous consequences.
Obviously, geoengineering is the scientific side of the climate change coin, which for the last two decades have always been mired in politics. What political stalling and bureaucratic red tape will fail to do (fingers crossed), science might be able to address more speedily. Here are some options:
Massive ash clouds smothered the landscape during the Mt. Pinatubo eruption in 1991 (Photo courtesy of Albert Garcia)
Sky seeding
Seeding the sky with sulfate aerosols that will block the sun’s radiation. This procedure essentially mimics a volcanic eruption, which historically has been known to cool the Earth by as much as 0.9 degrees Fahrenheit (as in the case of the 1991 eruption of Mt. Pinatubo.)
Ocean seeding
The goal here is to enrich the oceans with iron so as to supercharge the phytoplanktons (also called microalgae) into consuming more carbon dioxide and giving off life-supporting oxygen in return. These tiny microorganisms are usually dormant in iron-deficient parts of the ocean, so fertilizing the waters with iron could help make them more active.
A Lesson from insects
It turns out ants are excellent catalysts of carbon capture. As they tunnel their way underground and break down calcite in the process, the calcium bonds with carbon in the air and becomes limestone. This discovery, recently made last year, can inspire synthetic materials that can naturally break down and ultimately capture carbon in the process.
Space mirrors
Here, launching huge wire-mesh mirrors into orbit will theoretically deflect sunlight. Lowell Wood, the scientist who first proposed it in 2001, had calculated that deflecting even just one percent of sunlight would restore climate stability. The concept is considered only as a last resort however because of the high cost of its installation.
Marine cloud whitening
This technique involves spraying seawater into clouds to add to their condensation and increase the size distribution of the drops within them. The result is brighter and whiter clouds that reflect sunlight better. Robotic rotor ships will be used here to spray seawater into the air.
Of course, these geoengineering efforts will have to be executed on a massive global scale for the intended effects to kick in and make a difference. However, even scientists aren’t sure the effects will always be positive; tampering with nature on such as wide scale might actually have dangerous results. Hacking the weather, for example, in a particular region might have unintended effects on another.
In this case, since most geoengineering technology can be costly, only rich nations and corporations can afford it. Smaller countries thus stand at a disadvantage, and might even be vulnerable to the disastrous effects of geoengineering gone bad. Once again, climate change becomes an issue of inequality.
Morever, when geoengineering becomes the go-to solution, it diverts everyone’s attention from the bigger picture of why climate change is happening in the first place.
When There’s a Will…
At this point there is still a lot that can happen in the COP 21 Paris Talks, even as the world’s most powerful nations (and also the biggest polluters)— the U.S., China, European Union—have already pledged their commitment regarding target emissions. If ever the Paris Talks fails to produce a legally-binding agreement, scientists might be asked to step in to save the day. And yet resorting to science and technology smacks of a cop-out.
It’s well and good that technology can be relied on, but it shouldn’t absolve us of our responsibilities. We shouldn’t forget the real root of all this. What exactly contributes all these carbon dioxide emissions? Corporations never-ending quest for profits, which is sustained by our insatiable appetite for material goods and petty conveniences. Of course, the easy answer is to limit our consumerism and turn to clean renewable energy, but that kind of thing involves a massive paradigm shift, one that excludes pride and greed in the end.
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