Jul 5, 2023 06:30 PM
https://www.theverge.com/2023/6/28/23774...rity-risks
INTRO: It’s surprisingly easy for someone to mess with the makeup of Earth’s atmosphere, regardless of the consequences that could have for our planet. Now, as part of its plans to address security risks posed by climate change, the European Union is calling for talks on a potential international framework on how to treat deliberately atmosphere-altering technologies, AKA geoengineering.
The idea with geoengineering is to deploy new technologies that might be able to cool the planet down. The tactic that’s caused the most uproar lately is called solar geoengineering, which are basically attempts to manipulate the planet’s ability to reflect sunlight back into space.
The issue is that scientists aren’t quite sure how much good that would do or whether geoengineering might inadvertently trigger new problems. That’s why the European Commission says the world needs to start thinking about rules on geoengineering. Without them, climate vigilantes could decide to go ahead with their experiments without any oversight or accountability. In fact, that’s already started to happen, albeit on a small scale.
“These technologies introduce new risks to people and ecosystems.”
“The risks, impacts and unintended consequences that these technologies pose are poorly understood, and necessary rules, procedures, and institutions have not been developed. These technologies introduce new risks to people and ecosystems, while they could also increase power imbalances between nations, spark conflicts and raises a myriad of ethical, legal, governance and political issues,” says a joint communication adopted by the European Commission today... (MORE - missing details)
INTRO: It’s surprisingly easy for someone to mess with the makeup of Earth’s atmosphere, regardless of the consequences that could have for our planet. Now, as part of its plans to address security risks posed by climate change, the European Union is calling for talks on a potential international framework on how to treat deliberately atmosphere-altering technologies, AKA geoengineering.
The idea with geoengineering is to deploy new technologies that might be able to cool the planet down. The tactic that’s caused the most uproar lately is called solar geoengineering, which are basically attempts to manipulate the planet’s ability to reflect sunlight back into space.
The issue is that scientists aren’t quite sure how much good that would do or whether geoengineering might inadvertently trigger new problems. That’s why the European Commission says the world needs to start thinking about rules on geoengineering. Without them, climate vigilantes could decide to go ahead with their experiments without any oversight or accountability. In fact, that’s already started to happen, albeit on a small scale.
“These technologies introduce new risks to people and ecosystems.”
“The risks, impacts and unintended consequences that these technologies pose are poorly understood, and necessary rules, procedures, and institutions have not been developed. These technologies introduce new risks to people and ecosystems, while they could also increase power imbalances between nations, spark conflicts and raises a myriad of ethical, legal, governance and political issues,” says a joint communication adopted by the European Commission today... (MORE - missing details)