Without a major technological
breakthrough, no country will sacrifice its economy to reduce its carbon
emissions in a large way. Hence, nothing short of a world government along the
lines of that in North Korea can make this happen now, and most people (like
myself) prefer to take chances with global warming than live like the North
Koreans. Consequently, some environmentalist prescribe geoengineering as a
means to offset anthropogenic climate change. This article cautions against the
“moral hazard” of people becoming “complacent” about their carbon emissions when given the option of
geo-engineering. Even though the adverse consequences of fertilizing the ocean
or applying sulfur dioxide to the stratosphere are legitimate concerns, other
environmental issues related to the extraction of fossil fuels (strip mining,
hydraulic fracturing) should minimize this “complacency” in the long run. Given
the corrosiveness of sulfur dioxide, I shudder at the idea of releasing mass quantities of this heavier-than-air gas into the stratosphere. A less scary means of “albedo
modification” not mentioned in the article involves spraying large volumes of
seawater mist into the air. My only concern with this relatively benign
approach is its overall effectiveness, but it’s definitely worth a look.
