Geoengineering uses space mirrors to solve climate change

Geoengineering: The escape route

Failure to confront hard decisions about emissions puts humanity in a box. But we have a way out. Call in the geoengineers.

Some ideas are the stuff of science fiction: 15 trillion mirrors positioned in orbit to shield the planet from the sun's rays; a fleet of blimps 20 kilometers up feeding a constant stream of sulfur into the stratosphere; a navy of robot-controlled ships prowling the world's oceans, spraying seawater skyward to generate reflective clouds.


Others are more mundane: Plant trees to soak up carbon dioxide or paint roofs white to reflect sunlight. Most are unproven. All have major drawbacks. None offset ocean acidification.

The idea of tinkering with planetary controls is not for the faint of heart. Even advocates acknowledge that any attempt to set the Earth's thermostat is full of hubris and laden with risk.

Geoengineering gains traction

But the concept is gaining more traction as politicians, confronted with the ugly reality of trying to wean economies off fossil fuels, cast about for a strategy that will work if climate changes quickly or in nasty ways.

"Most analysts who examined the options closely had concluded that it would be reckless to mess with the planet," said David Victor, a professor of international relations at the University of California, San Diego, who specializes in energy and climate policy.

"That is changing."

Climate change solutions slip

Climate change global solutions

It's changing, in large part, because the chances of any sort of timely agreement on emissions cuts are plummeting even as scientists find evidence that these emissions have the potential to destabilize the Earth's climate to a degree unforeseen in human history.

But planetary engineering will likely remain part of society's future irrespective of an international agreement. First, there's a good bet that even with strict enforcement of a plausible international treaty, levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide will end up higher than agreed upon – a so-called "overshoot" that could put the climate outside that tolerable window, with disastrous consequences, said Martin Bunzl, a philosopher at Rutgers University who has studied geoengineering and was part of an ethics panel convened by the Royal Society to explore its moral implications..

Second, he said, even if there is a deal, "people are extremely naive if they think the world will actually stick to an agreement."

Geoengineering's insidious costs

In effect, future generations are stuck with geoengineering because society's main strategy for controlling emissions isn't working and the climate could prove far more sensitive to emissions than scientists and policy makers think. "The politics of actually stopping global climate change by mitigating emissions are nasty, brutish and endless," Victor wrote in a recent article in the Oxford Review of Economic Policy.

"Geoengineering, by contrast, offers prompt benefits with seemingly small costs."

But the true costs are insidious.

Climate change injustice

In virtually every geoengineering approach some populations benefit while others suffer. Studies suggest efforts to increase the planet's albedo, or reflectivity, by infusing the upper atmosphere with sulfur could expose hundreds of millions of people, mostly in the tropics, to drought as rainfall and river flow patterns change.

"Eight billion people may be better off while one billion people may be worse off. That's an interesting moral dilemma," Bunzl said.

"It's a problem, but I don't consider it a killer objection," Bunzl added. "I don't mean to be trivial, but there's a lot of detail: How much worse would they be? Are there any offsetting efforts you could make? And many, many other issues."

Bunzl and other geoengineering experts don't worry so much about the consequences of such tinkering. It is really just a stop-gap, Bunzl said – something to buy at most 50 years' of time to decarbonize the economy.

The real worry, they say, is what happens if society fails to cut emissions and has no way to buffer the planet from the effects of all that gas.

"We face a fork in the road," Bunzl said. "We have to decarbonize. We can decarbonize with the option to geoengineer, or we can decarbonize without the option."

800,000 tons of radioactive waste from Pennsylvania’s oil and gas industry has gone “missing”
Credit: Paul-Alain Hunt/Unsplash

800,000 tons of radioactive waste from Pennsylvania’s oil and gas industry has gone “missing”

Poor recordkeeping on hazardous waste disposal points to potential for bigger problems, according to a new study.

PITTSBURGH — Waste from the oil and gas industry contains toxic and radioactive substances. Disposal of this waste is supposed to be carefully tracked, but 800,000 tons of oil and gas waste from Pennsylvania oil and gas wells is unaccounted for, according to a recent study.

Keep reading...Show less
Senator Whitehouse & climate change

Senator Whitehouse puts climate change on budget committee’s agenda

For more than a decade, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse gave daily warnings about the mounting threat of climate change. Now he has a powerful new perch.
florida flooding
Big Stock Photo

New study projects sea level rise to drain Florida’s financial future

One million Florida properties are projected to become chronically flooded: properties that today fund nearly 30% of local revenues for more than half of the state’s municipalities, according to a new study conducted by researchers at Cornell and Florida State Universities.

exxon hacked information
Image by Pexels from Pixabay

Exxon relied on hacked info in fight against climate probes — court docs

In its battle against climate investigations in Massachusetts and New York, Exxon Mobil cited news reports that leaned on stolen information, according to court documents filed last week in connection with a vast hacking-for-hire scheme.

Students return to Lahaina schools as EPA seals down toxic ash

State health and education officials say it's safe for kids to come back but some parents and teachers have doubts.
roman ruins
Photo by Jamil Kabar on Unsplash

Climate change has toppled some civilizations but not others. Why?

The link between environmental disasters and societal collapse, explained.
phoenix arizona skyline mountains
Photo by Ian Dziuk on Unsplash

Q&A: After its hottest summer on record, Phoenix's mayor outlines the city's future

Mayor Kate Gallego answers how the city is looking to address extreme heat and drought to build a more sustainable city.

Is the UK doing enough to monitor air pollution?

There are now 555 air quality monitors across the country, but some say they aren't good enough.
From our Newsroom
drought climate farming

Opinion: Climate change and soil loss — the new Dust Bowl?

How we can save our soil, stabilize the climate, and prevent a new Dust Bowl.

climate change health care

Severe flooding increasingly cutting people off from health care

Many more Americans will find themselves regularly cut off from essential services, rescue workers and health care long before water actually reaches their homes, a recent study predicts.

Heat, air pollution and climate change … oh my! Was summer 2023 the new normal?

Heat, air pollution and climate change … oh my! Was summer 2023 the new normal?

Intense heat waves induced by climate change create favorable conditions for air pollution to worsen. Scientists say this isn’t likely to change unless action is taken.

environmental justice

LISTEN: Robbie Parks on why hurricanes are getting deadlier

"In places where there are high minority populations they bear, by far, the most burden of deaths from tropical cyclones."

children nature

Opinion: When kids feel the magic of nature, they will want to protect it

Improving our quality of life starts with the simple of act of getting kids outdoors.

birds climate change

In the Gulf of Maine, scientists race to save seabirds threatened by climate change

“I could see that, if successful, the methods developed could likely help these species."

Stay informed: sign up for The Daily Climate newsletter
Top news on climate impacts, solutions, politics, drivers. Delivered to your inbox week days.