I can't quote the piece in its entirety (and apologies it is behind the Sun's paywall) but, before anyone worries about the title (and selling the idea of geoengineering), here's what I wrote in summary...
"Using solar radiation management would be very difficult politically.
Which country should control the technology, or decide where the aerosols should be released?
Which country gets to decide how cold it is, and what happens if there are unintended consequences?
If weather patterns are changed, there could be severe fallout for countries which are suddenly getting a lot more rain than usual - or, more likely, a lot less.
None of these techniques are perfect and none should be considered a silver bullet. None have been tested on a large enough scale to be certain they would work. They should be considered no better than an insurance policy.
They might help out if your house catches fire, but it would be better to stop it catching fire in the first place.
Of course, there is a better option. Stop pumping as much carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Almost all climate scientists believe that we have very little time to make this change before we will have to either adapt to climate change or engineer a solution. "
It was difficult to write and the editor and I went back and forth on the wording a lot but I hope it was worth it. My aim was to open up the debate and be as frank as possible without, in any way, advocating any other choice than conventional mitigation. I guess some (including Jack Stilgoe) would legitimately ask if this was normalisation. I hope not...
Like you I am very reluctant about the idea of creating a chemical shroud around this blue planet to block out some of the sun and counteract "global warming." What I am not reluctant about is showing the world how simple it is to restore the oceans pastures that are presently being turned into deserts by high and rising CO2.
ReplyDeleteTo do this one merely has to add miniscule amounts of mineral rich dust to those oceans pastures. The amount of such dust needed to restore an eddy scale ocean pasture can be carried on a single 120ft fishing boat. It just works!
This years historic record breaking runs of salmon from Alaska to Oregon show that when their ocean pasture was restored as we did last summer in the NE Pacific hundreds of millions of salmon beyond the expected numbers come home to our rivers and streams. The largest numbers of a salmon in history equal to what was a regular occurence 100+ years ago.
Why did those fish come back. It was because ocean plankton blooms converted ocean killing CO2 into life itself. Instead of mostly starving salmon and all other sea life was treated to a feast. They grew and grew and before too long they came back to our rivers 200 million strong.
The cost? Myself and eleven shipmates from a tiny Indian village on an old rusty fish boat. What if 100 villages were to do the same each summer and become the stewards of their ocean pastures.
In terms of the carbon that the ocean plankton soaked up to become life. Tens of millions of tonnes became life as a result of my work last summer. With 100 villages billions of tonnes of CO2 can be converted into life instead of global warming, climate changing, ocean killing death.
The cost for 100 villages, not 100 nations, to restore the oceans and save the world. About the same as we pay a single rock star, athlete, movie star. A tiny fraction of the money a big wig entrepreneur makes.
How quickly will it work? Immediately and deliciously!
Bring Back The Fish learn more at http://russgeorge.net/2013/10/10/new-musical-stage-show-40-million/