Hansen et al comment in Global Warming in the Pipeline (2023) that Marine Cloud Brightening is the most innocuous way to get aerosol cooling and albedo increase on the political agenda. For the Overton Window, MCB is still radical, but can rapidly become plausible and acceptable and necessary, more so than Stratospheric Aerosol Injection which would need more difficult global governance arrangements. A commitment to research, with field tests at smallest measurable scale, would be an incremental step to open public discussion about the benefits of deployment. Hansen has criticised the US government decision not to invest in satellite study of cloud-aerosol interactions, given the unacceptable error bars in the cooling impacts.
My sense is that the election of Trump indicates a need for and possibility of a sudden switch in climate policy, in a way that could be led by his Energy Secretary Chris Wright, to focus primarily on albedo rather than carbon as a main climate research agenda. This is a way Trump can honour his rejection of decarbonisation without denying climate science.
Government investment can be a decisive factor in shifting the Overton Window, which has shifted massively on emission reduction in recent years. Trump's election shows that decarbonisation is viewed with increased suspicion, and has become far less acceptable to the general public when it creates unwelcome cost and inconvenience, not to mention cultural division.
That political abandonment of emission reduction leaves wide open the problem of what to do about heat, which can be removed with aerosols in ways that promise to be quick, safe, effective and acceptable.
I have read about using aerosols in a couple of Science Fiction books. Is there any studies and science exploring there use? I guess it would be interesting to know any follow on effect. Any reading you can recommend?
Gradually, then suddenly my friend…
Hansen et al comment in Global Warming in the Pipeline (2023) that Marine Cloud Brightening is the most innocuous way to get aerosol cooling and albedo increase on the political agenda. For the Overton Window, MCB is still radical, but can rapidly become plausible and acceptable and necessary, more so than Stratospheric Aerosol Injection which would need more difficult global governance arrangements. A commitment to research, with field tests at smallest measurable scale, would be an incremental step to open public discussion about the benefits of deployment. Hansen has criticised the US government decision not to invest in satellite study of cloud-aerosol interactions, given the unacceptable error bars in the cooling impacts.
My sense is that the election of Trump indicates a need for and possibility of a sudden switch in climate policy, in a way that could be led by his Energy Secretary Chris Wright, to focus primarily on albedo rather than carbon as a main climate research agenda. This is a way Trump can honour his rejection of decarbonisation without denying climate science.
Government investment can be a decisive factor in shifting the Overton Window, which has shifted massively on emission reduction in recent years. Trump's election shows that decarbonisation is viewed with increased suspicion, and has become far less acceptable to the general public when it creates unwelcome cost and inconvenience, not to mention cultural division.
That political abandonment of emission reduction leaves wide open the problem of what to do about heat, which can be removed with aerosols in ways that promise to be quick, safe, effective and acceptable.
Thanks, I also saw some links orhers have put up in the comments
I have read about using aerosols in a couple of Science Fiction books. Is there any studies and science exploring there use? I guess it would be interesting to know any follow on effect. Any reading you can recommend?
oh hundreds:
https://www.silverlining.ngo/stratospheric-aerosol-research-program