{"id":5749,"date":"2010-06-14T05:30:50","date_gmt":"2010-06-14T09:30:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.geneveith.com\/?p=5749"},"modified":"2010-06-14T05:30:50","modified_gmt":"2010-06-14T09:30:50","slug":"if-we-caused-global-warming-we-can-cool-it-down","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2010\/06\/if-we-caused-global-warming-we-can-cool-it-down\/","title":{"rendered":"If we caused global warming, we can cool it down"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

The Washington Post<\/em> reviews two\u00a0 Books on geoengineering: \u2018How to Cool the Planet\u2019 and \u2018Hacking the Planet\u2019<\/a>.\u00a0 The idea is that since human beings have caused global warming, we can put other stuff into the environment to cool the planet down:<\/p>\n

As the prospect of drastic warming evolves from worst-case scenario to virtual certainty, the notion of some kind of technological quick fix is more and more appealing. It\u2019s still in the speculative stages, but it has already produced two highly unsettling books.<\/p>\n

Among the ideas that have been broached is dumping various odd substances into the sea, such as iron filings (to promote growth of CO2-consuming plankton) and \u2014 no kidding \u2014 Special K cereal, which would supposedly increase the sea\u2019s reflectivity, thus keeping it cooler. One of the least crazy possible methods is the Pinatubo Option, in which we would somehow cloak the Earth\u2019s atmosphere in a layer of reflective particles, which would block the sun and cool the planet just enough to maintain some kind of climatic equilibrium. . . .<\/p>\n

\nAs the climate heats up, and if scientists\u2019 predictions of scary, sudden changes come true, such options are going to look more attractive. Especially the Pinatubo Option: We could scatter particles into the stratosphere with a fleet of high-altitude planes, for the (relatively) low price of a few billion dollars. Or, as another scientist has suggested, we could seed the stratosphere via miles and miles of hoses, held aloft by blimps and spraying tiny particles into the upper reaches of the atmosphere. Other scientists have looked at methods of \u201ccloud brightening,\u201d with much the same goal.\n

The reviewer and these books, while raising the possibility of creating even greater climactic disasters, are taking this prospect in dead earnest.\u00a0 They apparently do not consider their solutions ludicrous.\u00a0 (Putting Special K<\/em> cereal into the ocean?\u00a0 We\u2019re having enough problems with British Petroleum, but we want Kellogg\u2019s to do the same thing?)<\/p>\n

I guess those who think human beings are so powerful with all of their technology that they can destroy the world also assume human beings are powerful enough with all of their technology to\u00a0 fix the world.\u00a0 Some of us, though, believe human beings are far more limited in their power, both for worse and for better.<\/p><\/div>\n<\/blockquote><\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Washington Post reviews two\u00a0 Books on geoengineering: \u2018How to Cool the Planet\u2019 and \u2018Hacking the Planet\u2019.\u00a0 The idea is that since human beings have caused global warming, we can put other stuff into the environment to cool the planet down: As the prospect of drastic warming evolves from worst-case scenario to virtual certainty, the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1281,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33,44],"tags":[515,908,926],"class_list":["post-5749","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nature","category-technology","tag-climate-change","tag-geoengineering","tag-global-warming"],"yoast_head":"\nIf we caused global warming, we can cool it down<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Washington Post reviews two\u00a0 Books on geoengineering: 'How to Cool the Planet' and 'Hacking 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