14 DAY TRIAL // Scientists have started taking geoengineering very seriously over the past few months, and considering it as a viable option for reducing the effects of global warming and climate change. Once thought of as a last-resort approach to mitigating the negative consequences of billions of tons of carbon dioxide being released into the atmosphere, geoengineering is now starting to become a viable alternative. The scientific community is currently assessing available methods, and is analyzing the advantage and repercussions of using any of them, Technology Review reports.
Geoengineering is a very broad concept, and it refers to a host of methods that scientists could employ in reducing the level of global warming the world is currently experiencing. The vast amount of CO2 resulting from burning fossil fuel is changing the environment, bringing about the threat of rising sea levels, distorted weather patterns, ice-sheet collapse, and so on. What geoengineers do is basically think of ways of either reducing the concentration of greenhouse gases (GHG) in the atmosphere, or blocking incoming sunlight, so as not to trap heat in the atmosphere anymore.
The second approach is deemed the most dangerous, so, experts are currently going out of their way to avoid it as much as possible. The first is a lot more appealing, as it includes methods of removing CO2 from the atmosphere, or preventing the gas from being emitted in the first place. Possible courses of action in this approach include employing carbon-capture and -storage (CCS) technologies in power plants burning fossil fuels, boosting phytoplankton concentrations to increase the rate at which oceans absorb carbon, or developing methods of otherwise removing GHG from the air.
Experts say that, after the hurdles of finding the best geoengineering method are overcome, the main obstacle will be going up against the big oil industry. Many climate scientists and engineers call it the “the biggest industry in the history of mankind,” and not in a good way. Since it was first established, it has paid off numerous scientists and lobby groups to persuade authorities that fossil fuels are not damaging the environment. In addition to promoting pollution, and defacing many sites with open-pit mines and cyanide lakes, the industry is also stifling innovation in fields such as alternative energy, through the politicians it has in its back pocket.