When positing about a topic, here geoengineering and climate change it is helpful to share your expertise. Why should anyone listen to me on this topic? The good news is that the answer is simple — you shouldn’t. I have absolutely no relevant experience about geoengineering. That I lack knowledge is quite true in a lot of books I read but I’ll try and faithfully convey some of the thoughts of people with more knowledge.
Geoengineering And Climate Change
Geoengineering means planned interventions to impact the earth’s climate. The basic problem being addressed is greenhouse gases capturing heat. This means one researched approach is shooting reflective particles into the upper atmosphere to prevent sunlight from getting to earth and through this preventing the earth heating up, known as solar radiation management. It sounds a bit science fiction but some researchers seem confident that a significant impact could be made on earth’s climate.
Is Geoengineering Something To Aim For?
From what I read, simply put, no. Climate change is causing a lot of problems already and this will get worse. Ideally, we can work to mitigate the problems and adapt as necessary. In an ideal world we don’t need to start messing with climate systems.
Blocking the sun is never preferable to not needing to do so in the first place.
Marvel, 2025, page 178
The worry is that the earth’s climate is really, really complex. When we mess with one thing that could have unpredictably bad knock-on effects. We might have the knowledge to stop some sunlight coming to earth but we don’t have a great idea of what will happen if we do that.
Are All Novel Technologies A Problem?
Carbon dioxide removal is sometimes thrown in with geo-engineering. There are practical concerns with carbon dioxide removal, a lot around the economics of the activity. Some see it as a distraction. That said the technology seems a bit less unpredictable than shooting particles into the air. It is humans pumping excess amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, if we took some of it back it doesn’t seem as dramatic an intervention. Trees do this all the time.
Kate Marvel, the climate scientist, seems more open to carbon dioxide removal.
I, for one believe, carbon dioxide removal to be scientifically interesting and necessary, and solar radiation management to be unworkable in the absence of a worldwide agreement that will never exist.
Marvel, 2025, page 177
Could Solar Radiation Management Happen?
A worry with solar radiation management is that it might end up being (relatively) easy to conduct. Faced with a changing climate a country could go it alone. The decision might be made at the national level, but it might impact the world in unpredictable ways. It could be even worse it the effects could be predicted, and the intervention would help one country and hurts others. One can see the arguments that would happen.
Now think a tech bro might decide this was the way to go. We might end up relying on Elon Musk’s or Jeff Bezos’ judgment about the future of the planet being the right one. That is a truly terrifying prospect.
If you need another reason to try and address climate change if we can make greater progress more quickly this should lessen the chances that that a single country or trillionaire will go it alone.
For more on climate change see Do Americans Believe In Climate Change?, Growth Can Come From Climate Action, The Pope And The Climate Crisis, and Teaching About Climate Change
Read: Kate Marvel (2025) Human Nature: Nine Ways To Feel About Our Changing Planet, Ecco Press
