Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-5xszh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-26T19:45:58.526Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The Desperation Argument for Geoengineering

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 January 2013

Stephen M. Gardiner*
Affiliation:
University of Washington

Extract

Geoengineering has been roughly defined as “the intentional manipulation of planetary systems at a global scale” (Keith 2000; Schelling 1996). This definition is neither as precise nor as informative as some would like. Nevertheless, we can fix ideas by focusing on the most prominent current proposal, which is to inject sulfate aerosols into the stratosphere to deflect incoming radiation and so cool the Earth's surface. This is a paradigm case: if anything counts as geoengineering, stratospheric sulfate injection (hereafter SSI) does.

Type
Symposium: Climate Change Justice
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 2013

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Arctic Methane Emergency Group. 2012. “Declaration of Emergency.” Available at: http://www.ameg.me/index.php/about-ameg/13-ameg-declaration-of-emergency.Google Scholar
Blackstock, J.J., Battisti, D.S., Caldeira, K., Eardley, D.M, Katz, J.I., Keith, D.W., Patrinos, A. N., Schrag, D.P., Socolow, R.H., and Koonin, S.E.. 2009. Climate Engineering Responses to Climate Emergencies. Novim Group, Santa Barbara, 29 July: viii.Google Scholar
Caldeira, Kenneth, and Keith, David. 2010. “The Need for Climate Engineering Research.” Issues in Science and Technology 57: 5762.Google Scholar
Corner, Adam, and Pidgeon, Nick. 2010. “Geoengineering the Climate: The Social and Ethical Implications.” Environment 25 (1): 2437.Google Scholar
Crutzen, Paul. 2006. “Albedo Enhancement by Stratospheric Sulphur Injections: A Contribution to Resolve a Policy Dilemma?Climatic Change 77: 211–19.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gardiner, Stephen. M.Forthcoming. “Geoengineering and Moral Schizophrenia: What's the Question?” In Climate Change Geoengineering, ed. Burns, Wil and Strauss, Andrew. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Gardiner, Stephen. M. 2011. A Perfect Moral Storm: the Ethical Challenge of Climate Change. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gardiner, Stephen. M. 2010. “Is ‘Arming the Future’ with Geoengineering Really the Lesser Evil?” In Climate Ethics: Essential Readings, ed. Gardiner, S., Caney, S., Jamieson, D., and Shue, H., 284312. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Keith, David. 2000. “Geoengineering: History and Prospect.” Annual Review of Energy and the Environment 25: 245–84.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nolt, John. 2011. “Greenhouse Gas Emission and the Domination of Posterity.” In The Ethics of Global Climate Change, ed. Arnold, Denis. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Preston, Christopher. 2012a. “The Extraordinary Ethics of Solar Radiation Management.” In The Ethics of Solar Radiation Management, 111. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books.Google Scholar
Preston, Christopher. Ed. 2012b. The Ethics of Solar Radiation Management. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books.Google Scholar
Schelling, Thomas. 1996. “The Economic Diplomacy of Geoengineering.” Climatic Change 33: 303–07.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shepherd, John, Caldeira, Ken, Cox, Peter, Haigh, Joanna, Keith, David, Launder, Brian, Mace, Georgina, MacKerron, Gordon, Pyle, John, Rayner, Steve, Redgwell, Catherine, and Watson, Andrew. 2009. Geoengineering the Climate: Science, Governance and Uncertainty. London: Royal Society.Google Scholar
Smith, Patrick. 2012. “Domination and the Ethics of Solar Radiation Management.” In The Ethics of Solar Radiation Management, 4361. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books.Google Scholar
Specter, Michael. 2012. “Is There a Technological Solution to Global Warming?New Yorker, May 14.Google Scholar