Disadvantages Of Climate Engineering

There is no doubt that global warming will not stop anytime soon as carbon has a life of around 100 years and more potent greenhouse gases have even longer lifespan. To counter this is the idea of climate engineering. Climate engineering can be as common sense as planting forests, changes in land use to reflective satellites. The idea of climate engineering is controversial as one of the articles in this paper describes it as “hubris” that we can predict and change the global climate to our liking (Meyer, Uhle, 2015). The best place to start is with carbon dioxide removal (CDR) because unlike the solar radiation management (SRM) it is the only true long term solution to global warming. The most basic and long term CDR plans are to plant

The most likely used plan would be releasing large amounts of aerosols into the stratosphere and mesosphere which would cause global cooling by increasing the albedo of clouds and moisture (Ming, et al, 2014). The benefits of this plan is that it would be cost effective, immediate and mimics a natural process . It is estimated that one kilogram of sulfate aerosol can upset the warming effect of several hundred thousand kilograms of CO2. The downsides are that it does not address greenhouse gases, causes atmospheric ozone depletion, and decreased precipitation in the Northern Hemisphere and would have to be applied every 2-4 years. The effects are already studied in volcano eruptions which cause a year or two of global cooling and the effects are not permanent. We already have all the technology to do this and the capability to project its effects modeled after volcano eruptions (Ming, et al, 2014; Caldeira, Keith, 2010; Liu, Chen, 2015). Another SRM method is more science fiction, satellites would be launched into space where they would reflect solar radiation. This would be immediate cooling but would be in the future as we do not have the technology for it. Like releasing aerosols, cloud whitening would increase the albedo of clouds and is already being study in the field as ships create cleaner whiter clouds

China has demonstrated the ability to change the weather despite the argument that it is “hubris” to think that it’s impossible to predict and change weather. It is true that modeling may not be accurate and there will be unintended consequences but it is in the future’s best interest that we still research how to better climate engineering. The attitude that we can ignore the root cause of global warming, greenhouse gases, and rely on fast acting climate engineering is very hubris in our role on earth and our abilities. It is important to understand that all systems are connected and weighing the risks before dumping chemicals into the the ocean or atmosphere is critical (Meyer, Uhle, 2016). With these “solutions” things such as ocean acidification and rising GHGs are not addressed and with the immediate effects of climate engineering may go unaddressed leaving the problem worst for future