Oliver Tickell

This week the Royal Society published a special edition of its journal, Philosophical Transactions, dedicated to "geo-engineering" interventions to combat global warming. Its initiative deserves to be welcomed, not rejected out of hand. The time may come when we need to geo-engineer in order to maintain our planet in a livable state.

Doug Parr, Greenpeace UK's chief scientist, made the case against: we should muster serious political will, and equally serious finance, to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Using existing and proven clean technologies from wind turbines to concentrated solar power, we need to bring about a worldwide renewable energy revolution. If we do the above, he implied, we will not need any "outlandish" or "outright dangerous" geo-engineering solutions.…  Seguir leyendo »

We need to get prepared for four degrees of global warming, Bob Watson told the Guardian last week. At first sight this looks like wise counsel from the climate science adviser to Defra. But the idea that we could adapt to a 4C rise is absurd and dangerous. Global warming on this scale would be a catastrophe that would mean, in the immortal words that Chief Seattle probably never spoke, "the end of living and the beginning of survival" for humankind. Or perhaps the beginning of our extinction.

The collapse of the polar ice caps would become inevitable, bringing long-term sea level rises of 70-80 metres.…  Seguir leyendo »