Sometimes you will hear the expression: "We think technology will save us. Technology got us into this mess"
Or, you might hear about the moral hazard of suggesting that technological approaches could reduce the need for reduced consumption [1]
These seem to be compelling arguments for many people -- including those who fund science. Geoengineering is, one might say, a dirty word in the sciences today. Are there any scientists who could weigh in?
[1] Hale, B. (2012). The world that would have been: moral hazard arguments against geoengineering. Engineering the climate: The ethics of solar radiation management, 113.
Geoengineering refers to any attempt to engineer the planet. It isn't just aerosol injection, but would also include solar shades, dumping iron in the ocean, modifications to forest cover, creation or destruction of biomes (e.g., turning the Sahara back into something other than a desert), and in the future, conceivably things like bioengineering species to obtain desired goals (e.g., consider a plant we could farm that somehow sequestered CO2 in a form we could more easily bury). It's the terrestrial equivalent of the term "terraforming".
Or, you might hear about the moral hazard of suggesting that technological approaches could reduce the need for reduced consumption [1]
These seem to be compelling arguments for many people -- including those who fund science. Geoengineering is, one might say, a dirty word in the sciences today. Are there any scientists who could weigh in?
[1] Hale, B. (2012). The world that would have been: moral hazard arguments against geoengineering. Engineering the climate: The ethics of solar radiation management, 113.