Geoengineering

So, a few months ago I came across an interesting article in The Economist (November 4, 2010) describing the concept of "geoengineering"; a field of study that explores methods of actively manipulating the earth's climate to fix the problems of man-made global warming and climate change. This is a relatively new field that goes beyond most current initiatives to reduce emissions and mitigate further effects to climate.

The article describes several interesting ideas that are being explored, including:

• Filling the upper atmosphere with fine sulfate particles that can act to reflect sunlight (an effect that occurs naturally with a volcanic eruption)
• Chemical scrubbers that can "scrub" carbon dioxide from the atmosphere to be sequestered underground
• Adding calcium oxide into the oceans, forming carbonates from dissolved carbon dioxide, which in turn allows more carbon dioxide to dissolve in the ocean water
• Cloud whitening - using fine sea-salt mist to 'whiten' low ocean clouds to reduce absorption
• Refreezing meltwater underneath glaciers to stop glacial drift

Whist these radical yet plausible ideas will require much more work to refine into proper engineering solutions, I think the more interesting challenge, which the article also explores, is how we manage the development and testing process. Since even the smallest-scale experiment on the earth's climate may still have effects globally, it is imperative that experiments are carefully constructed and contingencies well considered.

In addition, who is then responsible for oversight of such experiments? National governments? International scientific organisations? Private corporations?

Whilst the potential benefits from successful geoengineering could solve our climate change problems and be one of the defining fields of this century, the risks could be downright detrimental in exacerbating the damage to our already strained environment.

It's definitely an important area for our generation to think about as there is, after all, but the one earth we have.

If you're interested in reading the full article, it is available online from The Economist website: http://www.economist.com/node/17414216?story_id=17414216 (subscription may be required)

There is also a pretty comprehensive Wikipedia page on geoengineering as well: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geoengineering