Geoengineering: Who Should Control Our Atmosphere?

Climate One

News, Earth Sciences, Social Sciences, Science, News Commentary

4.7 • 585 Ratings

🗓️ 5 November 2021

⏱️ 55 minutes

🔗️ Recording | Apple Podcasts | RSS

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Summary

According to the latest IPCC Assessment Report, we’re currently on course for at least 3°C (5.4°F) of warming by 2100 even if all of the voluntary Paris Agreement emissions pledges are fulfilled. Clearly the world needs to do more to reduce emissions. But what if that’s still not enough? Solar geoengineering – such as putting sulfate aerosols into the stratosphere to reduce the amount of the sun’s heat from reaching the earth – could be one tool to slow warming temporarily. But it has become so politically fraught that even research into the subject is contentious. Who decides who should control our atmosphere? And what global governance structures should be put in place before any experimentation begins? This program is generously underwritten in part by the Laney and Pasha Thornton Foundation. For transcripts and other information, visit: https://www.climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts Guests: Janos Pasztor, Executive Director, Carnegie Climate Governance Initiative, former Assistant Secretary General, United Nations Sheila Jasanoff, Professor of science and technology studies, Harvard Kennedy School Albert Lin, Professor, University of California Davis School of Law David Keith, Professor of applied physics and public policy, Harvard Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	AI is incredible. They can teach you how to fry an egg and even write a poem, pirate style.
0:07.0	But it knows nothing about your work. Slackbot is different. It doesn't just know the facts.
0:14.0	It knows your schedule. It can turn a brainstorm into a brief and it doesn't need to be taught.
0:20.0	Because Slackbot isn't just another AI.
0:23.3	It's AI that knows your work as well as you do.
0:26.4	Visit Slack.com forward slash meet SlackBot to learn more.
0:30.9	This is Climate One. I'm Greg Dalton.
0:33.7	Solar geoengineering could provide an emergency break on the disruptive and deadly effects of carbon emissions.
0:40.3	We don't know enough yet, but it is potentially, clearly one of the tools.
0:44.3	The question then is for society to figure out, do we want to do this or not.
0:48.3	But the subject is full of complex, difficult questions about research, politics, and global governance.
0:55.0	The question of who controls the thermostat, or should anyone control the thermostat,
0:59.0	and who should make decisions on behalf of the entire global population.
1:04.0	Some think even the idea of such a technological gambit is highly problematic.
1:09.0	One of the things that puzzles and bothers me is why the research necessarily is about
1:15.2	re-engineering the Earth instead of re-engineering habits of how to reduce the emissions
1:22.1	in the first place. Should humans alter the atmosphere to lower the Earth's temperature? Before we get into today's topic of solar geoengineering,
1:31.3	we want to acknowledge the International Climate Conference currently taking place.
1:35.3	With COP 26 now underway in Glasgow,
1:38.3	there's anticipation around whether countries will inject new momentum
1:42.3	and ambition into the Paris Climate Agreement.
1:45.4	Our correspondent Amman Azar reports.
	...

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