WILD CARDS - The Power Surge: Energy, Opportunity, and the Battle for America's Future - page 193

h ose in this camp ot en turn to something called geoengineering,
which is what the gathering in Monterey was convened to discuss.
h e basic idea is simple. h e temperature of the planet is determined
by the balance of heat coming in (from the sun) and heat going out.
Greenhouse gas accumulation in the atmosphere cuts the amount of
heat leaving, raising average world temperatures. h is is why people
worrying about climate change typically focus on reducing emissions
of greenhouse gases: they want to make sure more heat can escape.
Geoengineering advocates aim at the same ultimate objective but focus
on the other part of the equation: they look for ways to stop so much
heat from get ing in.
h ere are many proposals for geoengineering. Some talk about
injecting sulfur particles into the upper atmosphere to slightly block
the sun's light, just as the eruption of Mount Pinatubo, a volcano in
the Philippines, did in 1991. Others propose schemes that would use
custom-made particles instead of sulfur, l eets of aircrat or ships to seed
rel ective clouds, or constellations of tiny mirrors that are sent up into
space to rel ect light from the sun. 27
h ere is lit le question that many of these, particularly the simplest
ones, would work to cool the planet at fairly low i nancial cost. h ere
would be side ef ects: rainfall pat erns could shit and new winners
and losers could emerge. 28 h e sulfur scheme would change the color
of sunsets. But faced with the prospect of runaway climate change,
geoengineering might become the preferred option. And, unlike slash-
ing global emissions, it could be done by any one country that decided
it made sense. 29
Yet people would be wrong to conclude that a combination of fossil
fuels and geoengineering could deliver a safe climate while avoiding any
need for cleaner energy technologies. Scientists who study geoengineer-
ing consistently come to the same conclusion: the more greenhouse
gases the world pumps into the atmosphere, the more geoengineer-
ing the world will need, and the more risk of unpleasant side ef ects
the world will incur. Even worse, the simultaneous pursuit of endless
fossil-fuel combustion and ever greater geoengineering could create
a dangerously brit le system: if geoengineering were ever stopped,
the planet's temperature would quickly skyrocket, with potential