Geoengineering Is A Very, Very Bad Idea – But Here’s Why We May Have To Do It Anyway

Let’s just make sure we stop climate change while we are still the main thing causing it

"So, geoengineering is a very, very, very, very, very bad idea. It should form no part of any sensible strategy to mitigate the expected effects of climate change. However hard it might be, cutting our greenhouse gas emissions is the only sane way to stop anthropogenic climate change…

And yet we may still have to do it someday. Why? Because sadly we don’t live in a sane world. At present, we are still at a stage where it is likely that a drastic cut in greenhouse gas emissions would lead us back to a climatic equilibrium that is similar to what we experienced during pre-industrial times. However, we cannot take that for certain in the future. There are many processes, physical, chemical and ecological, that could tip the balance the other way so that we would find ourselves crossing a ‘phase shift’ where climate change became self-perpetuating and positive feedback drives us towards an even warmer future, whether we carry on emitting greenhouse gases or not."