Call
me simple but surely the most sustainable and safe geo-engineering project
would be to reforest on a massive scale. Rather than look at scary hi tech
fixes – why not put a simple premium on every gallon of aviation fluid and
refoprest. We have the etch to desalinate, we can build structures in deserts
to protect new foliage, the means exist to sterilize sewerage and use it as a
piped resource and re-green the places which once were….
But
we won’t get one tipping point but many thousands as different linkages fail
and challenge other systematic linkages with feedback loops that no longer
feedback. I guess the mistake is to think there is no tipping point because we
are not experiencing it or we don’t quite comprehend it….but it strikes me
that a lot of people have been tipped over recently…. Tipping points which
precipitate human migration will initially be perceived as much more of a
public security perception that a collective climate management
responsibility….And the transitions will not be quiet objective assessment
affairs…..
In
the meantime why could we not take a leaf out of China’s book and plant
hundreds of thousands of trees – even in worktime for those who sustain
through the next economic crisis…
Steve
From:
Discussion list for the Crisis Forum [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
On Behalf Of A&M Meikle
Sent: 14 September 2010
15:42
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re:
geo-engineering solutions to the climate change
crisis
Surely once a
tipping point is reached, it's a bit late? If there was a truly benign form of
geoengineering, I think it should be used sooner rather than later (but that's
still a big 'if' for me). One of the big problems I have with
geoengineering is that it's often implied that we can carry on with growth in
everything.
Accelerated rock
weathering sounds better in terms of energy use than CCS but I have visions of
a flat Earth smelling of vinegar! What are we talking about here? What rock
types, where are they & how much conversion of calcium silicate to calcium
carbonate and what's the impact of this etc? Maybe this isn't known
yet.
(And to Chris Shaw
- it's not just you!!)
Much of the worst
damage to Rome was done by Roman emperors and armies thrashing about, thinking
they were preserving what they were in fact destroying.
- James O'Donnell
----- Original
Message -----
Sent: Tuesday,
September 14, 2010 2:06 PM
Subject: Re:
geo-engineering solutions to the climate change
crisis
Your 1: that's one of the
questions we need research to get answers to.
There's little doubt that
there are possible interventions that could bring
about any CO2 /
temperature reduction we are likely to want given enough
time and money.
However the temperature reductions may be uneven,
accompanied by changes
in rainfall patterns, etc etc. So again, much
research needed. Other big
questions include cost and reversibility.
Your 2: my own feeling
precisely. Tipping points are what we need to be
worried about and ready
to act against.
FYI big article in the Guardian on
geoengineering:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/sep/13/geoengineering-coalition-w
orld-climate
Unfortunately
it says nothing about the best option: ex-situ geochemical CCS
by
accelerated rock weathering.
Oliver Tickell.
-----Original
Message-----
From: Discussion list for the Crisis
Forum
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Christopher
Shaw
Sent: 13 September 2010 14:13
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject:
Re: geo-engineering solutions to the climate change crisis
How
rapidly would these various geo-engineering projects reduce
co2
levels/temps?
One option might be to have them ready to go and
then if there is a rapid
change in the climate, tipping points being
crossed, whatever, then they
could be deployed as a last, life-saving
resort, rather than a mitigation
action. More a life preserver thrown to
a drowning swimmer than any
preventative or even desirable course of
action.
I ask out of general interest rather than any desire to
engage in
instrumentalist discourses or the construction of technocratic
utopias.
(On that last point, anyone notice as the technology gets
better life gets
shitter? Or is just me?)
-----Original
Message-----
From: Discussion list for the Crisis
Forum
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Oliver
Tickell
Sent: 13 September 2010 12:55
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject:
geo-engineering solutions to the climate change crisis
What
I am advocating right now is research into geoengineering,
not
deployment.
There are however things we can be doiing right
now, by way of stopping
harmful things we are doing which are 'reverse
geoengineering'. These
include most particularly reductions in black
carbon (soot) emmisions from
biomass burning, charcoal kilning, dirty
stoves, 2-stroke and diesel
engines, and industrial sources; and a rapid
end to emissions of the PIGGs
or powerful industrial greenhouse gases
such as the HFCs widely used in
refrigeration.
Most promising
research options for geoengineering would be accelerated rock
weathering
(ARW - which may also be thought of as ex-situ geochemical CCS)
and
various means of enhancing reflectivity such as cloud-whitening by
saline
micro-particles, and possibly by creating reflective
stratospheric
aerosols. This latter option is promoted with some
enthusiasm but we must be
mindful of dangers of ozone
depletion.
ARW has the great advantage of having generally beneficial
side-effects,
such as reducing soil and ocean acidity; a rapid 'payback'
of relatively low
upfront carbon costs; and low
cost.
Oliver.
Kyoto2.