Periodically, obsolete technology come back with its obscure potential on environment and life, with a higher frequency in periods of crisis… so, can it be the case for the revamp of geoengineering?
It is the “intentional, large-scale manipulation of the environment (…). Envirnmental change is the goal rather than a side effect. (…) In the context of climate change, geoengineering entails the application of countervailing measure, one that uses additional technology to counteract” (Keith, D., 2009).
But world press now launches again a report on dumping iron in the seas as a possible solution to help transfer carbon from the amosphere (Reuters). Ocean fertilization is reported as a great innovation, although it is instead a mix of obsolete ideas that 191 Countries has scraped since 2008 at the UN’s Convention on Biological Diversity conference where Australia, Brazil and China opposed until the last minute (read the June 2008 article on Nature).
This kind of technology is a big business appraised up to 75 billion dollars by the business community, but entails the usage of pollution to mitigate the effect of other pollution! The paradox could lead us to increased damage from both further GHG pollution and the side effects of this geoengineering solution.
The debate is on, and this site reports the last news on the topic.
