Geo-engineering is the practice of climate engineering, that is an intentional, wide-scale intervention into the Earth’s climate system with the overarching goal of alleviating the detrimental effects of increased global warming. Geo-engineering generally encompasses two different practices: “sucking” carbon dioxide out of the sky so the atmosphere traps less heat, and secondly, reflecting more sunlight away from the planet so less heat is absorbed in the first place.
An example of a proposed geo-engineering project is stratospheric aerosol injection, or SAI. According to Deezen Studies, SAI is the main type of solar radiation management (SRM) conisered in the IPCC report. It’s a controversial type of SRM. “Whereas CDR addresses the cause of global warming, reducing greenhouse gases, SRM only masks it or offsets it. In the case of SAI, gases are pumped into the stratosphere to reflect some of the sun’s heat, mimicking an effect that happens naturally in a strong volcanic eruption.” Though there is high agreement that SAI could work to limit warming to below 1.5 degree celsius – a significant amount – and the technology does exist in order to make It feasible, the scale of SAI makes it’s governance difficult. Implementing it in one country can trigger extreme weather across borders, which is an obvious obstacle. This could lead to an increase in lack of public support. In terms of safety, there are several concerns of unforeseen consequences with using the tactics of geo-engineering on this extreme of a scale. According to Dezeen, “another key issue is what happens when the SAI is discontinued — the “termination shock” would cause a spike in temperatures, creating huge problems for future generations who did not consent to the practice.”
In my opinion, investments into better research toward geo-engineering projects would help the environment. There is no harm in adding funding and resources to research — so that we can effectively explore our options of combating climate change. Research before action is quite different then simply implementing geo-engineering projects without any idea of both the positive and negative impacts that they might have.
I do believe that, if done safety, responsibly, consciously, and ethically, geo-engineering is part of the solution toward reversing climate change. Climate change is such a wide-scale issue that we simply can’t rule out anything that could potentially be a solution. I truly believe that if done correctly and cautiously, geo-engineering has the potential to be a vital part of our solution toward reversing climate change.