The past, present and future of climate change (via The Economist)
Replacing the fossil-fuel technology which is reshaping the climate remains a massive task.
See www.economist.com
HUMAN POPULATION
“In no previous century had the human population doubled. In the 20th century it came within a whisker of doubling twice. In no previous century had world GDP doubled. In the 20th century it doubled four times and then some.”
The past, present and future of climate change…
The Dilemma
“This opens up a dilemma. Given that reducing emissions seems certain not to deliver quickly enough, it would seem stupid not to put serious effort into developing better ways of achieving negative emissions. But the better such r&d makes the outlook for negative emissions appear, the more the impetus for prompt emissions reduction diminishes. Something similar applies for a more radical potential response, solar geoengineering, which like the ping-pong balls of 1965 would reflect sunlight back to space before it could warm the Earth. Researchers thinking about this all stress that it should be used to reduce the harm of carbon dioxide already emitted, not used as an excuse to emit more. But the temptation would be there….”