Episode 21 - Clima Ex Machina

The global climate is in bad shape and quickly getting worse. The debate as to how or why is long over (from both data and irrelevance) and the conversation is now turning to "Well what now?"

The IPCC has set down an ambitious plan to get us off our fossil fuel fix, but it involves a lot of unproven technologies to help us stay under 2C. Further, many researchers believe this won't be enough and are proposing their own megascale engineering projects to try and keep Earth from slowly cooking us.

This week on Ashes Ashes we tackle the world of geoengineering, exploring what's realistic, what's likely, and just how much trouble are we really in.

Full Transcript Available

Chapters

09:26 Cloud Seeding
11:28 Albedo
13:29 Stratospheric Aerosol Injection
15:10 Cirrus Cloud Thinning
19:48 Accidental Cloud Seeding
24:15 Moral Hazard
27:03 Halting Ice Melt
30:24 Simulate Ice?
31:17 Addressing the Underlying Problem
32:08 Ocean Iron Fertilization
36:07 Colonize Mars
40:16 Reforestation & Afforestation
46:35 "Out of Sight, Out of Mind"
49:38 The Final Frontier
55:04 BECCS
1:00:57 DACS
1:04:46 Just Scratching the Surface
1:06:58 What Can We Do?
1:09:32 Close Out

Sources

@BOOK{NAP18805,
author    = "National Research Council",
title     = "Climate Intervention: Carbon Dioxide Removal and Reliable Sequestration",
isbn      = "978-0-309-30529-7",
doi       = "10.17226/18805",
url       = "https://www.nap.edu/catalog/18805/climate-intervention-carbon-dioxide-removal-and-reliable-sequestration",
year      = 2015,
publisher = "The National Academies Press",
address   = "Washington, DC"
}
@BOOK{NAP18988,
author    = "National Research Council",
title     = "Climate Intervention: Reflecting Sunlight to Cool Earth",
isbn      = " 978-0-309-31482-4",
doi       = " 10.17226/18988",
year      = 2015,
publisher = "The National Academies Press",
address   = "Washington, DC"
}
@misc{scherer_2012, title={IPCC Predictions: Then Versus Now}, url={http://www.climatecentral.org/news/ipcc-predictions-then-versus-now-15340}, journal={Climate Central}, author={Scherer, Glenn}, year={2012}, month={Dec}} 
@article{khvorostyanov_curry_2004, title={The Theory of Ice Nucleation by Heterogeneous Freezing of Deliquescent Mixed CCN. Part I: Critical Radius, Energy, and Nucleation Rate}, volume={61}, url={https://journals.ametsoc.org/doi/10.1175/JAS3266.1}, DOI={10.1175/jas3266.1}, number={22}, journal={Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences}, author={Khvorostyanov, Vitaly I. and Curry, Judith A.}, year={2004}, month={Nov}, pages={2676–2691}} 
@article{jones_haywood_dunstone_emanuel_hawcroft_hodges_jones_2017, title={Impacts of hemispheric solar geoengineering on tropical cyclone frequency}, volume={8}, url={https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-017-01606-0}, DOI={10.1038/s41467-017-01606-0}, number={1}, journal={Nature Communications}, author={Jones, Anthony C. and Haywood, James M. and Dunstone, Nick and Emanuel, Kerry and Hawcroft, Matthew K. and Hodges, Kevin I. and Jones, Andy}, year={2017}, month={Nov}} 
@misc{dunne_2017, title={Unregulated solar geoengineering could spark droughts and hurricanes, study warns}, url={https://www.carbonbrief.org/unregulated-solar-geoengineering-could-spark-droughts-and-hurricanes-study-warns}, journal={Carbon Brief}, author={Dunne, Daisy}, year={2017}, month={Nov}} 
@misc{mckie_2017, title={Could a £400bn plan to refreeze the Arctic before the ice melts really work?}, url={https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/feb/12/plan-to-refreeze-arctic-before-ice-goes-for-good-climate-change}, journal={The Observer}, publisher={Guardian News and Media}, author={McKie, Robin}, year={2017}, month={Feb}} 
@misc{radford_2016, title={Antarctic techno-fix cannot slow rising seas}, url={https://climatenewsnetwork.net/17721-2/}, journal={Climate News Network}, author={Radford, Tim}, year={2016}, month={Mar}} 
@misc{meyer_2018, title={A Radical New Scheme to Prevent Catastrophic Sea-Level Rise}, url={https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/01/a-new-geo-engineering-proposal-to-stop-sea-level-rise/550214/}, journal={The Atlantic}, publisher={Atlantic Media Company}, author={Meyer, Robinson}, year={2018}, month={Jan}} 
@misc{radford_2016, title={Antarctica geoengineering idea flawed say scientists}, url={http://www.climatechangenews.com/2016/03/10/antarctica-geoengineering-ploy-to-stop-rising-seas-is-non-starter/}, journal={Climate Home News}, publisher={Climate Home}, author={Radford, Tim}, year={2016}, month={Mar}}

Published 26-04-2018 22:51