Posts Tagged ‘geo-engineering

No “articles of note” for a while and then two come along at once: Population bomb still a fizzer 40 years on, the Australian, by Oliver Marc Hartwich. A critique of environmentalism’s worship of nature. Fair trade does not help the poor, report says, Daily Telegraph, by Harry Wallop. Discusses a report from the Institute […]

Note: Most of this week’s articles are not freely available in full on the internet. How the Observer brought the WWF into being, Observer, by Kate Kellaway. Article to market the 50th anniversary of the world’s largest non-governmental conservation charity. Includes links to the original Observer articles from 1960. Geoengineering: lift-off, Economist. Discussion of high […]

The more, the better, Wall Street Journal, by Joel Kotkin. Response to Arundhati Roy, Kafila, by Jairus Banaji. (see 28 February 2010 post). The thrill of science, tamed by agendas, New York Times, Edward Rothstein. Searching for water under the sands of Saudi Arabia. Spiegel, by Samiha Shafy. Scientists call for ‘climate intervention’ research with […]

After several critical posts some upbeat news. Der Spiegel profiles Klaus Lackner, a German geophysicist based at Columbia University, who is working on artificial trees that filter 1,000 times as much carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere as the real thing. The project is still at its prototype phase but if it worked well enough […]

Isabel Galiana and Christopher Green, economists at McGill University in Montreal, have an article in Nature arguing for a technological development as the best way to tackle climate change: “A technology-led approach can stabilize the climate with higher probability and much lower cost than the emissions-target approach”. The two authors are part of the 2009 […]

I was planning to write a note on the 10: 10 campaign launched in Britain yesterday but Brendan O’Neill has saved me the trouble with a critique on the Guardian comment is free site. I particularly liked the concluding quote on prosperity from Sylvia Pankhurst, the revolutionary suffragette leader, so I checked it out. It […]

Perhaps New Scientist should rename itself New Survivalist? The weekly science magazine often comes with a pronounced green tinge. This week (25 February) includes an editorial and feature on geo-engineering. Sadly it sees it as an emergency “Plan B” rather than as part of a positive conscious effort to manage the climate. Its comment concludes […]

Articles in the Economist and New Scientist take a downbeat view of the prospects for geo-engineering – using large scale engineering projects to modify the climate. Perhaps not surprising since both refer to the same study – among others – on the subject by Tim Lenton of the University of East Anglia in the Atmospheric […]

Scientific American has an extensive feature on geoengineering in its November issue including references for further study. It looks at such possible technologies as injecting sulphur dioxide into the upper stratosphere, spraying seawater in the troposphere and building huge “blinds” in space to act as a sunshade. At least the magazine takes the discussion seriously […]

The Economist (11 September) notes a significant shift in the environmentalist attitude towards climate change. Rather than just pushing mitigation they are also promoting adaptation as a complement to it. To quote the opening paragraph of the article: “‘I used to think adaptation subtracted from our efforts on prevention. But I’ve changed my mind,’ says […]