I very much hope that Sheila's forwarded message will develop some
discussion on our list. We discourage small talk exactly so that this
channel can be used for "big issues". If ever I have seen one, this is it.
I was initially unsure what the parliamentary group meant by
"Geo-Engineering". The word has gained some currency as an umbrella term to
describe the range of fields which involve both geoscience and engineering
(engineering geology, geotechnics &c), but the terms of reference make it
clear that that is NOT their focus. They are using it in the sense of "the
deliberate modification of Earth's environment on a large scale to suit
human needs and promote habitability" (Wikipedia and references therefrom).
I find it interesting that this is attracting serious political interest,
and that fact alone has important implications for our field. To date,
geophysics has primarily been concerned with observing the Earth and its
environs, building detailed physical models of this system and its
processes, and using these to predict its future behaviour. Although the
likes of Clarke, Lovelock and Hansen have advocated at various levels the
use of this knowledge to modify and control these systems on a global scale,
such ideas have so far largely been a matter for coffee-room discussion or
speculative conference sessions at AGU. As far as I am aware, the idea of,
for example, bringing these approaches into mainstream University teaching
is new.
A few questions that spring immediately to mind:
Why has this been identified as primarily an engineering rather than
geoscience issue?
How far can local approaches that exploit geoscience and engineering
technologies (such as CO2 storage in spent hydrocarbon reserviors or saline
aquifers) be regarded as "geo-engineering" within the scope of this inquiry?
Has sufficient research funding yet been placed into exploring the questions
associated with controlling the global environment?
Do we have sufficient global monitoring capability to be able to track the
effects of any truly global geo-engineering project? How would the existing
systems need to be improved to enable such projects to be conducted at
minimal risk?
Is there as yet a sufficiently coherent and established body of knowledge to
support the establishment of University courses or other training? At what
level might such training appropriately be offered?
I'm sure you can think of lots more. If the discussion develops
sufficiently, perhaps we could repackage the comments to become a submission.
Russ
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