Geoengineering - The Gamble

Stabilizing the world-s climates means cutting carbon dioxide pollution. There-s no way around it. But what if that-s not enough? What if it-s too difficult to accomplish in the time allotted or, worse, what if it-s so late in the game that even cutting carbon emissions to zero, tomorrow, wouldn-t do?

Enter solar geoengineering. The principle is simple: attempt to cool Earth by reflecting more sunlight back into space. The primary mechanism, shooting particles into the upper atmosphere, implies more pollution, not less. If that doesn-t sound scary, it should. There are lots of risks, unknowns, and unknowables.

In Geoengineering: The Gamble, climate economist Gernot Wagner provides a balanced take on the possible benefits and all-too-real risks, especially the so-called -moral hazard- that researching or even just discussing (solar) geoengineering would undermine the push to cut carbon emissions in the first place. Despite those risks, he argues, solar geoengineeri