Could Geoengineering save us from climate change?
In this Our Changing Climate environmental video essay, I join forces with @ClimateAdam to look at silver bullet geoengineering solutions to climate change. Specifically, we look at how silver bullet geoengineering ideas can be appealing in theory, but in practice they often have a lot of ethical, economic, and social drawbacks. We dive deep into two geoengineering practices that some are touting as climate saviors: Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage and Solar Radiation Management (specifically Stratospheric Aerosol Injection). Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage is a very appealing geoengineering technology but it requires massive amounts of land if it is scaled up. Stratospheric Aerosol Injection essentially dims the sun and there are many climate-related drawbacks as well as political ramifications that could arise if we use aerosol injections as a way to stave off the worst of climate change. Essentially these geoengineering silver bullet propositions are in many ways an excuse for us to continue business as usual instead of digging in and actually reducing emissions.
