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Are there any credible options for geoengineering our way out of this? If prevention fails that is
by jbattle 11y ago
Are there any credible options for geoengineering our way out of this? If prevention fails that is
- neffy 11y agoThere are a couple of ideas for engineering that would make the albedo (reflectivity) of the North Pole area controllable. One involves a space shield, the other is floating panels (one side black, one side white). The larger issue is a) predicting the result and b) the 'it could be good for Ontario' problem that all types of climate change bring benefits as well as costs. f.ex. a return to glacial conditions would suck for the Northern Hemisphere, but be good news for India, Africa etc.
- specialist 11y agoHope so. Prevention failed. I believe, but obviously cannot prove, that we've already passed the tipping point. Thawing tundra, ocean acidification, and burning forests are all now in positive feedback loops. Meaning we could stop all human activity tomorrow and atmospheric CO2 would continue to increase. But the great unknown that scares me is the thawing methane clathrate. Hard to imagine mitigating this one. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clathrate_gun_hypothesis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clathrate_gun_hypothesis