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| "Injection of sulphate aerosol is designed to mimic the cooling effect of volcanic eruptions" From BBC News, Science & Environment |
This is the second program on the Beebs in an as many days, on the issue of Geo-engineering, suggesting it's becoming mainstream. Indeed, another article of 24th October on BBC News says "Public supports geo-engineering ideas, study suggests".
I wrote about it last year, and earlier this year.
To the greenies who worry that a technical solution will reduce the political will to charge for carbon, Prof Keith says (I paraphrase): "are we really saying that we don't want to have a technology that will -- or may, we don't fully know yet and have to do more research -- in the short term, reduce the risk of global warming? Is that a moral stance?" And also: "providing seat belts might incline people to drive a bit faster; are we saying that seat belts are wrong?"
He doesn't suggest that SRM is going to be a panacea, or that we should implement it without delay. His main point is that more study and research should be supported, and that if/when it's deployed it should be regulated, in the public arena and done with extreme care: step by reversible step.
That seems to me to be an eminently sensible proposal.
For my mind, we must proceed with the more study he proposes.
If a house is in fire, and you might have some water nearby, the fact that you haven't sorted out the cause of the fire should surely not stop you from using the water....
