Space mirrors! [cue disco music]

U.S. response to IPCC is ... something 7

The IPCC sent an early draft of its latest report to various world governments, seeking comment. The U.S. response (PDF) should surprise no one: it sought to push the IPCC in a favorable ideological direction. That means downplaying the negative effects of warming, bashing Kyoto, lauding the vaporous benefits of voluntary agreements, and -- brace yourself -- hyping the possibility of giant space mirrors. Yeah, really.

This is a species of "geoengineering," sold as a "last ditch" response to global warming. Take note, however, that it's being sold as such by a country that hasn't tried any of the thousands of first ditch responses. The IPCC has, wisely in my view, judged such ideas "speculative, uncosted and with potential unknown side-effects." But the U.S. ruling elite never saw a massive techno-project it didn't like -- anything to avoid changing basic power structures.

I know many people, including my esteemed colleague Jamais Cascio, put great stock in geoengineering -- or at least its promise. Suffice to say, I don't. I keep promising to write something more extensive about it, and, uh ... yeah, I still promise.

David Roberts is staff writer for Grist. You can follow his Twitter feed at twitter.com/drgrist.

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  1. sunflower's avatar

    sunflower Posted 1:34 am
    30 Jan 2007

    What me worry?Instead of using solar mirrors on Earth for low-carbon energy, they want to block sunlight from my solar collectors and my vegetable garden, and for what, to make everybody forget about global warming.
    Dimming the sun with space mirrors will reduce photosynthesis by plants and plankton, reduce CO2 uptake, and aggravate global warming.
    I am so ashamed by our corrupt government.

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  2. amazingdrx Posted 2:03 am
    30 Jan 2007

    HeheyFuturama's giant ice cubes (featured in "Inconvenient Truth")seems more practical.
    When a new national park out on the prairie would do the job, why not be a hroe duuhbya?  You could appear TeddyR-esque.  The great conservationist, global disaster averting prez.
    Instead of the idiot that started WW3 (based on lies)so Halliburton could get big contracts.  When the Sunnis and Shiia are waging chemical, biological, nuclear war in the whole middle east it maybe too late to cleanup the chimp's legacy.

    http://amazngdrx.blogharbor.com/blog

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  3. jjwfmme Posted 3:07 am
    30 Jan 2007

    speculative, uncostedIt's similar to the hyping and researching hydrogen fuel vs. taking real steps such as raising the CAFE standards and more aggressively pushing hybrids and electric cars.
    No need to worry, our SCIENCE EXPERTS are dealing with the problem. [Sweeping sound, from the problem going under the rug.]

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  4. jamais Posted 3:48 am
    30 Jan 2007

    Wait a minute...To be precise, David, I put great stock in the idea that geoengineering is going to be on the table, especially if we find ourselves so close to a climate tipping point that all of the hybrids, efficient communities, and wind farms we can make won't help.
    Simply saying it's a bad idea isn't enough. It is a bad idea -- I have yet to see a geoengineering proposal that doesn't have some serious drawbacks or plausability problems -- but that doesn't mean that it won't happen. I just figure we should know enough about it to avoid the more disastrous outcomes when (and, sadly, it's more likely a "when" than an "if") somebody -- a desperate country, a rich tycoon, a power-mad Texan -- tries it.



    -=-=-=-


    Art is to Omit.

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  5. jeffgoodell Posted 5:22 am
    30 Jan 2007

    the return of big scienceAgreed, it is inevitable.  Better we sort it out now than when the seas are five feet higher and rising.  Edward Teller's protege is way out front on this...
    http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/12343892/can_dr_ev...

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  6. Steve Bloom Posted 8:37 am
    30 Jan 2007

    The missing halfThis mirror idea should be packaged with the proposal to slow global warming by pumping SO2 into the atmosphere.    

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  7. amazingdrx Posted 3:00 pm
    31 Jan 2007

    GeoengineeringA new national park IS geoengineering.  If it is large enough it will do what those idiotic mirrors were intended to do, but never could.
    Stop global climate change from GHGs.

    http://amazngdrx.blogharbor.com/blog

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