SustainableBusiness.com News

Oct. 4, 2011

Leading experts on climate change science and technology released a report recommending the US government begin considering radical alternatives to remediate Earth's climate.

Techniques include scattering particles in the air to mimic the cooling effect of volcanoes, stationing orbiting mirrors in space to reflect sunlight, seeding the air with ocean water to form clouds, and literally vacuuming the carbon from the atmosphere using machines.

The report emphasizes that it's too early to deploy these technologies, but it's time for a coordinated federal research program to explore their potential effectiveness, feasibility, and consequences in case "the climate system reaches a ‘tipping point' and swift remedial action is required."

It also emphasizes that the highest priority is to aggressively reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but political stalemate continues to prevent that.

The 18-member panel was convened by the Bipartisan Policy Center, a research organization founded by Democrats and Republicans - to offer policy advice to the government. Some of the panel members told the NY Times they hoped the mere discussion of such drastic steps would jolt policy makers into meaningful action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, which they emphasize, are the highest priority.

Read the full article here

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Energy Project, Task Force on Geoengineering, Energy Innovation Initiative