The call to artificially cool the planet is growing louder — and more urgent. Advocates say there is now a moral imperative to at least research new climate fixes because global leaders are moving too slowly to stave off the worst of climate change through emissions cuts, writes Chelsea Harvey. “There is a serious risk that we will not get it together to mitigate and adapt [to climate change] sufficiently,” Jessica Seddon, director of Yale University’s Deitz Family Initiative on Environment and Global Affairs, told Chelsea. Geoengineering includes a variety of methods to manipulate the Earth’s natural systems to counter global warming, such as spraying reflective aerosols into the sky or using particles to brighten clouds, both of which would redirect the sun’s rays away from Earth. The field of research has long been in the theoretical and experimental stages. But worsening climate impacts worldwide — from more frequent storms, fires and floods to crop failures and the rapid spread of disease — in addition to the lackluster global response has pushed the issue to the fore. It was, for example, the topic of conversation this month at a panel held in tandem with the renowned American Geophysical Union conference, the world’s largest gathering of Earth scientists. The conversation, hosted by SilverLining, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit group, framed geoengineering as a “climate intervention” with an ethical imperative for more research. The pitfalls of moral imperatives
Framing the study of artificial climate interventions as a moral imperative could help advocates overcome a history of opposition to conducting experiments, largely from government officials and community advocates. But some climate policy experts worry too much pressure to take extraordinary steps could have adverse consequences, raising the risk that a research group, company or even government might deploy technology before adequate guardrails are in place. Still, any way you slice it, humanity is running out of time to secure a livable planet. Experts now widely agree the world is likely to overshoot the ambitious 1.5-degree Celsius temperature target outlined in the Paris Agreement. A recent United Nation report warned that governments’ current policies and pledges will lead to a temperature rise of 2.6 to 3.1 degrees C. It is difficult to underestimate how disastrous this level of warming would be. It could lead to the total collapse of numerous ecosystems, rapid ice sheeting melting, mass coral bleaching, monthslong heat waves, droughts, floods and other potentially irreversible events.
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