Earther: Geoengineering Is Inevitable
"Here's what's going to happen: Every year for the foreseeable future, scientists, activists, and citizens concerned about climate change will have a discussion in one form or another about geoengineering."
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Bonetti, F.; et al. (2018): Multiple input control strategies for robust and adaptive climate engineering in a low-order 3-box model
Bonetti, F.; McInnes, C. (2018): Multiple input control strategies for robust and adaptive climate engineering in a low-order 3-box model. In: Proceedings. Mathematical, physical, and engineering sciences 474 (2217), S. 20180447. DOI: 10.1098/rspa.2018.0447.
"A low-order 3-box energy balance model for the climate system is employed with a multivariable control scheme for the evaluation of new robust and adaptive climate engineering strategies using solar radiation management. The climate engineering measures are deployed in three boxes thus representing northern, southern and central bands. It is shown that, through heat transport between the boxes, it is possible to effect a degree of latitudinal control through the reduction of insolation."
Read more » Bonetti, F.; et al. (2018): Multiple input control strategies for robust and adaptive climate engineering in a low-order 3-box model
Possner, A.; et al. (2018): The efficacy of aerosol–cloud radiative perturbations from near-surface emissions in deep open-cell stratocumuli
Possner, A.; Wang, H.; Wood, R.; Caldeira, K.; Ackerman, T. (2018): The efficacy of aerosol–cloud radiative perturbations from near-surface emissions in deep open-cell stratocumuli. In: Atmos. Chem. Phys 18 (23), S. 17475–17488. DOI: 10.5194/acp-18-17475-2018.
"We show that a spatially coherent cloud perturbation is not evident along the emission line. Yet our model simulates an increase in domain-mean all-sky albedo of 0.05, corresponding to a diurnally averaged cloud radiative effect of 20 W m−2, given the annual mean solar insolation at the VOCALS-REx site. Therefore, marked changes in cloud radiative properties in precipitating deep open cells may be driven by anthropogenic near-surface aerosol perturbations, such as those generated by ships."
Read more » Possner, A.; et al. (2018): The efficacy of aerosol–cloud radiative perturbations from near-surface emissions in deep open-cell stratocumuli
Reynolds, J. et al. (2018): Governance of Highly Decentralized Nonstate Actors: the Case of Solar Geoengineering. Discussion Paper
Reynolds, J.; Wagner, G. (2018): Governance of Highly Decentralized Nonstate Actors: the Case of Solar Geoengineering. Discussion Paper.
"While solar geoengineering has the potential to greatly reduce climate change, it has generally been conceived as centralized and state deployed. Potential highly decentralized deployment moves the activity from the already contested arena of state action to that of environmentally motivated nongovernmental organizations and individuals, which could disrupt international relations and pose novel challenges for technology and environmental policy. We explore its feasibility, political implications, and governance."
Read more » Reynolds, J. et al. (2018): Governance of Highly Decentralized Nonstate Actors: the Case of Solar Geoengineering. Discussion Paper
The National Academies of Science, Engineering, Medicine (2018): A Research Review of Interventions to Increase the Persistence and Resilience of Coral Reefs
The National Academies of Science, Engineering, Medicine (2018): A Research Review of Interventions to Increase the Persistence and Resilience of Coral Reefs. Washington, D.C.: National Academies Press. DOI: 10.17226/25279.
"Coral reef declines have been recorded for all major tropical ocean basins since the 1980s, averaging approximately 30-50% reductions in reef cover globally. These losses are a result of numerous problems, including habitat destruction, pollution, overfishing, disease, and climate change. Greenhouse gas emissions and the associated increases in ocean temperature and carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations have been implicated in increased reports of coral bleaching, disease outbreaks, and ocean acidification (OA)."
Read more » The National Academies of Science, Engineering, Medicine (2018): A Research Review of Interventions to Increase the Persistence and Resilience of Coral Reefs
Sikka, T. (2018): Activism and Neoliberalism. Two Sides of Geoengineering Discourse
Sikka, T. (2018): Activism and Neoliberalism. Two Sides of Geoengineering Discourse. In: Capitalism Nature Socialism 3 (1), S. 1–19. DOI: 10.1080/10455752.2018.1554690.
"The paper provides a comparative, critical discourse-driven analysis of activism for and against climate engineering. Arguments in support of this approach to climate remediation are quintessentially neoliberal and can be found in discourses that fetishize entrepreneurialism, support a market driven ideology, and amplify creative destruction."
Read more » Sikka, T. (2018): Activism and Neoliberalism. Two Sides of Geoengineering Discourse
The Conversation: COP24: here's what must be agreed to keep warming at 1.5°C
"The United Nations, in the IPCC Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5ºC has accepted that there isn't any obvious pathway to zero emissions in such a short time frame, so they have pegged their hopes on NETs – Negative Emissions Technologies. These approaches include carbon capture and storage (CCS), which involves sucking CO₂ from the air and storing it deep underground."
Read more » The Conversation: COP24: here's what must be agreed to keep warming at 1.5°C
FiveThirtyEight: We Have Ways To Stop Rogue Scientists. They Don't Always Work.
"The same week that news of He's experiments came out, the journal Nature ran a story about a team at Harvard that is planning the first real-world experiments in geoengineering — releasing particles of calcium carbonate into the high atmosphere over part of the southwestern United States. It's part of a project to develop a way to block sunlight and hopefully reduce the global average temperature (but not by too much). The tests could start as early as next year."
Read more » FiveThirtyEight: We Have Ways To Stop Rogue Scientists. They Don't Always Work.
# Calls & events
Newsletter of Week 50 of 2018
The newsletter of calendar week 50 in 2018 is now available here.
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C2G2: Faith Communities and Climate Engineering
"Cynthia Scharf speaks about the role that faith communities can play in education and advocacy about geoengineering governance. This video was originally produced for GreenFaith's COP24 event entitled 'Playing God? Multi-Faith Responses to the Prospect of Climate Engineering.'"
Read more » C2G2: Faith Communities and Climate Engineering