China with its aspirations may have overtaken the US in emissions but the US continues to be bullish about fossil fuels and emissions. Climate change deniers and a populace unwilling to let go on a carbon rich lifestyle have fuelled a feeling that life simply has to go on, in the same track.
Hence the new interest in geo-engineering. The idea being, let us pollute and then clean up the atmosphere. A panel is recommending that the government begin researching the possibility of directly manipulating the Earth’s climate to lower the temperature. This despite the fact that a few days ago, the UK-based Stratospheric Particle Injection for Climate Engineering project, or “SPICE,” a project aimed at cooling the earth’s climate, was delayed due to environmental concerns.
Not only is geo-engineering a distraction from climate change mitigation, it also presents ethical and political challenges. But more important, it presents the problem of unintended consequences. For instance, sulphate clouds could alter weather patterns and cause droughts. We have enough instances of technology turning the trigger backwards.
In early last century, Thomas Midgley helped stop engines from “knocking” by adding lead to gasoline. This was good for the engines, though highly toxic to humans and the environment. Advocates called for regulation, but catalytic converters ultimately came to the rescue. The converters couldn’t handle the lead, and so the lead was dropped.
Midgley went on to help solve the refrigeration problem presented by the highly flammable and/or toxic refrigerants of the day – ammonia, sulfur dioxide, methyl chloride and butane. He worked his way through the periodic table to discover that CFCs which were then used till found to affect the ozone layer. They were replaced by HFCs till it was found that HFCs are greenhouse gases!
When using sulphate to cool, we do not know the consequences besides the theoretical and lab based cooling.
Is it wise to continue on a carbon rich energy path or shift? What do you think?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment