Adaptation & Geoengineering

Watch

• Geoengineering: A Horrible Idea We Might Have to Do ↗Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell
• Do we Need Nuclear Energy to Stop Climate Change? ↗Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell
• How much energy do AI searches really use? - The Climate Question podcast, BBC World Service ↗BBC World Service
• Why Big Oil loves to talk about your carbon footprint ↗DW Planet A
• Bee extinction: Why we're saving the wrong bees ↗DW Planet A
• El Niño 101 | National Geographic ↗National Geographic

Read

• The Planet Remade: How Geoengineering Could Change the World ↗A lucid exploration of humanity's evolving relationship with Earth's climate, charting the history and future of deliberate planetary intervention.Oliver Morton
• A Case for Geoengineering ↗A rigorous, if provocative, argument for the judicious deployment of solar geoengineering as a potential complement to emissions reduction.David Keith
• Solar geoengineering: The case for researchAn influential early argument for the imperative of robust research into solar geoengineering, balancing promise with peril.David Keith, Edward Parson, M. Granger Morgan
• The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History ↗A Pulitzer-winning account of past and present mass extinctions, underscoring the profound ecological shifts that necessitate both adaptation and radical intervention.Elizabeth Kolbert
• Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability. Summary for Policymakers ↗The authoritative global assessment of climate change impacts, detailing the urgent need for adaptation and the limits thereof.IPCC Working Group II

Voices to follow

• David Keith ↗A leading proponent and researcher in solar geoengineering, he rigorously explores its technical feasibility, risks, and governance challenges.Professor of Applied Physics and Public Policy, Harvard University
• Elizabeth Kolbert ↗Her Pulitzer-winning journalism offers a compelling, often sobering, narrative on humanity's profound impact on the planet, including the ethical quandaries of climate intervention.Staff Writer, The New Yorker
• Naomi Oreskes ↗She provides crucial historical and sociological context for understanding scientific consensus, climate change denial, and the societal implications of proposed climate solutions.Professor of the History of Science, Harvard University
• Kate Marvel ↗A respected climate modeler and communicator, she articulates the scientific complexities and uncertainties surrounding both climate change and potential geoengineering responses.Climate Scientist, NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies

Glossary

• AdaptationAdaptation means changing how we live or what we do to better cope with the effects of climate change that are already happening or will happen. It's about adjusting to new conditions. For example, if a coastal town builds higher walls to protect itself from rising sea levels, that's an act of adaptation.
• Carbon CaptureCarbon capture is a technology that takes carbon dioxide, a major greenhouse gas, out of the air or from industrial smokestacks before it enters the atmosphere. The captured carbon can then be stored underground or used for other purposes. For example, a power plant might install equipment to "catch" the carbon dioxide from its exhaust fumes instead of letting it escape into the air.
• Climate ChangeClimate change is a big, long-term shift in Earth's usual weather patterns, like temperatures getting hotter or rainfall changing. It's mostly caused by human activities. For example, if your city used to have mild winters but now gets much less snow and warmer temperatures every year, that's a sign of climate change.
• Extreme Weather EventsExtreme weather events are unusually severe or unseasonal weather conditions, like very strong storms, long droughts, intense heatwaves, or heavy floods, which are becoming more frequent or intense due to climate change. For example, a region that rarely saw hurricanes suddenly experiencing a super-strong hurricane is an extreme weather event.
• GeoengineeringGeoengineering involves big, intentional projects designed to change Earth's climate system on a large scale to fight climate change. These are often experimental and aim to either remove carbon from the air or reflect sunlight away. For example, scientists exploring ways to spray tiny reflective particles into the atmosphere to bounce sunlight back into space is a type of geoengineering.
• Greenhouse GasesGreenhouse gases are certain gases in Earth's atmosphere that trap heat, like a blanket, keeping our planet warm enough to live on. However, too many of these gases, especially from human activities, cause the Earth to get too hot. For example, carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels like coal and oil is a major greenhouse gas.
• MitigationMitigation means taking steps to reduce or prevent the causes of climate change, especially by cutting down on greenhouse gas emissions. It's about stopping the problem at its source. For example, switching from cars that burn petrol to electric cars to reduce pollution is a form of mitigation.
• ResilienceResilience means the ability of a community, system, or environment to bounce back and recover quickly from difficult situations, like the impacts of climate change. It's about being able to handle shocks and changes without falling apart. For example, a city that has strong buildings, good emergency plans, and diverse ways to get food and water is showing resilience against natural disasters.
• Sea Level RiseSea level rise is the increase in the average height of the ocean's surface, mainly caused by melting glaciers and ice sheets, and the expansion of ocean water as it gets warmer. This can lead to more flooding in coastal areas. For example, if the ocean level slowly creeps higher each year, making beaches smaller and causing more frequent floods in seaside towns, that's sea level rise.
• Solar Radiation Management (SRM)Solar Radiation Management (SRM) is a type of geoengineering that aims to reflect some of the sun's energy back into space to cool the Earth. It doesn't remove greenhouse gases but tries to reduce the warming effect. For example, proposals to inject tiny reflective particles into the upper atmosphere to create a global "sunscreen" are part of Solar Radiation Management.

Threads 3

Where this connects to other fields, and why it's worth knowing.

• Incentives & Rational Choice Economics

  The better we get at coping with a hotter planet, the less pressure we feel to stop heating it in the first place. That's the same trap as airbags: safer cars can nudge some drivers to take bigger risks. Economists call this backfire moral hazard, and it means our clever fixes can quietly encourage the mess.

• Game Theory & Strategy Mathematics

  Normally with climate, everyone waits for someone else to pay the cost, so nobody acts. But spraying particles to dim the sun is shockingly cheap, which flips the game upside down. Now a single country could cool the whole planet alone, like one person grabbing the thermostat for a house of eight billion.

• Metabolic & Chronic Disease Health

  Imagine a painkiller that hides your illness instead of curing it, so if you suddenly stop, all the pain crashes back at once. Some plans to cool the planet by spraying particles into the sky work the same way: stop spraying, and the trapped warming rushes back faster than nature ever would. Masking a problem isn't the same as fixing it.