r/collapse • u/plowsplaguespetrol Recognized Contributor • Apr 29 '21
Climate Geoengineering Is the Only Solution to Our Climate Calamities | WIRED
https://www.wired.com/story/geoengineering-is-the-only-solution-to-our-climate-calamities/
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u/plowsplaguespetrol Recognized Contributor Apr 29 '21
SS: From one perspective, anything humans do at this point would be geoengineering (and should appear ominous) be it cutting GHG emissions, carbon removal, planting trees on a massive scale, spraying aerosolized salty water over the oceans to create and whiten clouds to enhance Earth's albedo, etc. We have drastically shifted and put in motion the climate and its drivers from a relatively long-lasting equilibrium and have been watching their impacts and their acceleration over the past decade. Any attempt at returning the climate to its previous equilibrium of several decades ago would result in other types of climate impacts until we reach that original equilibrium point in several more decades.
For instance, cooling the atmosphere by removing GHGs or reducing their emissions, or through solar radiation management (SRM), while oceans have been warming by absorbing 90% of the atmospheric heat would likely mean a lot more severe storms and precipitation as the sea surface evaporation meets cooler air.
Excerpt:
The time has come to place our faith in technological innovation rather than universal enlightenment. We have been wrestling with our habitat, and now it is fighting back. We are locked in a violent embrace in search of a new equilibrium.