Vocal Voices

In order for us to keep on keeping on with our current lifestyles till the fossil fuels run out some scientists, NGOs, governments and businesses proposed geo-engineering as a way to mitigate, and even reverse, our accidental geo-engineering, which is causing climate change. We did not have to worry, we could fix things.

The range of ideas put forward, from artificial trees to causing plankton blooms, frightened me to death. We had no idea if they would work and we certainly did not know what their side-effects might be. If they went wrong or simply did not work, we might not have been able to undo any damage done. Well, now we know some of the answers.

Researchers at Leeds, Bristol and Oxford Universities have run computer models on a range of schemes and the results "could prove disastrous for billions of people". The cure could be a lot worse than the illness. The research has found that we could change the climate in ways not intended, from reducing the monsoons to desertifying the Sahel in Africa to disturbing global rainfall patterns. Prof Piers Forster of Leeds University said: "We have found that between 1.2 and 4.1 billion people could be adversely affected by changes in rainfall patterns.

This research should really be a wake up call to climate optimists - there is no easy way to undo what has been done.

Yes it's all a bit optimistic isn't it.

Science is about understanding, experimenting, design and engineering. But how do you experiment with the livable habitat for the entire planet??? Because nothing else will prove the potential cure.

The reality is this. For more than 200 years the entire effort and ability of the entire human race has been driving climate change. From land use to animal husbandry, fossil fuel use and deforestation.

Today we have 200 years of inertia. Also we have almost everyone on the planet working flat out to make the situation worse.

So, the first order of business, for any geoengineering project, must be to stop the existing output. Then and only then, can their ideas be used to reduce the already catastrophic levels of CO2 in the atmosphere.

Ok so every proferred goengineering solution misses the very first point. "Stop making it worse". Therefore they are all worthless.

My grandfather had a saying. "If you find yourself in a hole and are having difficulty getting out, Don't polish the sides".

On the climate front we have two teams. One is digging as fast as it can and the other is using a buffing machine to put a glass smooth polish on the sides, then covering it with grease.....

The planet is one huge geo machine. If we give it a chance it will re-balance itself with a small amount of encouragement. It will take decades, there is no quick fix. However the alternative is not really tenable. Simply put we are creating a killing habitat rather than a living one. The sheer scale of it is so large that most people looking at engineering solutions simply can't see the scale. Nobody has ever tried "whole planet" engineering.

Meanwhile, as we discuss each option, endlessly, one team digs and the other polishes and the "Light at the end of the tunnel" gets smaller and smaller....