Playing God - By Gernot Wagner and Martin L. Weitzman. How serious is the threat of global warming? One way to figure out is to take your cues from some leading climate scientists: They have moved on. That doesn't mean they've abandoned the issue, but they are looking beyond what all agree is the most obvious solution -- decreasing the amount of carbon we spew into the atmosphere in the first place. These scientists are beginning to look for a Plan B.
There are two distinct approaches under consideration -- sucking carbon out of the atmosphere, or creating an artificial sun shield for the planet. Repugnant or not, with the globe failing to develop other ways to halt climate change, geoengineering is increasingly becoming an option. The high costs of doing nothing If the world can't get its act together to limit carbon emissions, geoengineering may be the only option we have. Americans are some of the world's worst offenders. Few of us are paying our fair share for the damage that we're doing to the planet. Sitting in the driver's seat. Scientific Institutions. Climate Change. Climate Change Observation. Climate change. Climate Change. Environmental Learning.
Dangers. Proposals. Official Chemtrail Forecast and Report Center. Geo. H.A.A.R.P. What is geoengineering? | Environment. Geoengineering schemes are projects designed to tackle the effects of climate change directly, usually by removing CO2 from the air or limiting the amount of sunlight reaching the planet's surface. Although large-scale geoengineering is still at the concept stage, advocates claim that it may eventually become essential if the world wants to avoid the worst effects of climate change. Critics, by contrast, claim that geoengineering isn't realistic – and may be a distraction from reducing emissions.
The first category of scheme – those designed to remove CO2 from the air – include machines (sometimes called "artificial trees") that pull the gas from the atmosphere using plastic polymers. Other proposals seek to increase the amount of CO2 absorbed by the oceans – for example by adding large quantities of lime to the water. Other related schemes – sometimes but not always described as geo-engineering – involve harnessing the capacity of trees and plants to absorb CO2 from the air. Can Geoengineering Solve Global Warming? Late in the afternoon on April 2, 1991, Mt. Pinatubo, a volcano on the Philippine island of Luzon, began to rumble with a series of the powerful steam explosions that typically precede an eruption. Pinatubo had been dormant for more than four centuries, and in the volcanological world the mountain had become little more than a footnote. The tremors continued in a steady crescendo for the next two months, until June 15th, when the mountain exploded with enough force to expel molten lava at the speed of six hundred miles an hour.
The lava flooded a two-hundred-and-fifty-square-mile area, requiring the evacuation of two hundred thousand people. Within hours, the plume of gas and ash had penetrated the stratosphere, eventually reaching an altitude of twenty-one miles. Three weeks later, an aerosol cloud had encircled the earth, and it remained for nearly two years. For geophysical scientists, though, Mt. The consortium consists of three groups.