Directory:Geoengineering
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Geoengineering is the deliberate modification of Earth's environment on a large scale to suit human needs and promote habitability. Others define it more narrowly as focusing only on the mineralogy and hydrology of the earth. The term geoengineering is distinct from accidental anthropogenic climate change.
A primary application considered for geoengineering would be to providing man-made interventions for the global warming crisis. While such interventions are sure to have side effects, the thinking is that the preventative measure is not as bad as the alternative of doing nothing.
Such a discussion should take a wide array of disciplines into consideration as it has moral, temporal, social, and long-term ecological ramifications.
- aka Terraforming
- Terraforming is the hypothetical process of deliberately modifying the atmosphere, temperature, or ecology of a planet, moon, or other body to be similar to those of Earth in order to make it habitable by humans.
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Geoengineering
Overview
- Geoengineering: An ethical response to climate change? (http://www.alternative-energy-news.info/geoengineering-climate-change-solutions/) (15 min) - Planetary weather systems could one day be manipulated in an attempt to cool the planet and survive global warming. Environmental scientist David Keith thinks we should begin serious debate about the ethical factors surrounding geoengineering. (Alternative Energy News; Nov. 14, 2007)
Methods
- Climos under siege? (http://venturebeat.com/2008/05/31/climos-under-siege/) - Potentially throwing a wrench into future ocean fertilization trials, which are intended to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by storing carbon deep underwater, the UN Convention on Biological Diversity called for a moratorium on the practice of adding nutrients to the oceans. (Venture Beat; May 31, 2008)
- Injecting Sulfate Particles into Stratosphere Could Have Drastic Impact on Earth’s Ozone Layer (http://www.greencarcongress.com/2008/04/injecting-sulfa.html#more) - A much-discussed geoengineering approach to offset global warming by injecting sulfate particles into the stratosphere would have a drastic impact on Earth’s protective ozone layer, according to a new study led by Simone Tilmes of the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) (http://www.ncar.ucar.edu/) in Boulder, Colo. (GreenCar Congress; April 25, 2008)
- Put sulpher in the atmosphere to reflect off sun's rays
- Climate Engineering Is Doable, as Long as We Never Stop (http://www.wired.com/science/planetearth/news/2007/07/geoengineering) - Pumping 20 to 25 liters of aerosols per second to keep enough particles in the stratosphere would cool temperatures, causing the planet's carbon sinks to suck more carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere. "That kind of flow rate can be handled by a single fire hose," said Caldeira. "For something like $100 million a year you could probably keep a hose in the stratosphere suspended by an array of balloons with pumps along the way." (Wired; July 25, 2007)
- Detonate a supervolcano
Related Resources
- Wikipedia:Planetary_engineering
- Geoengineering: A Climate Change Manhattan Project (http://www.metatronics.net/lit/geo2.html)
- UC Berkeley's GeoEngineering program (http://www.ce.berkeley.edu/geo/index.php)
- Caldeira lab (http://globalecology.stanford.edu/DGE/CIWDGE/home/main%20page/People/Caldeira/Caldeira_Research.php)
- ClimateShield (http://lifeboat.com/ex/climate.shield) - Lifeboat Foundation
- Guns and sunshades to rescue climate (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4762720.stm) BBC News
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