News Review of Week 45 of 2016
The news review of calendar week 45 in 2016 is now available here.
Month: October 2016
Reynolds, Jesse L.; et al. (2016): Five solar geoengineering tropes that have outstayed their welcome
Reynolds, Jesse L.; Parker, Andy; Irvine, Peter (2016): Five solar geoengineering tropes that have outstayed their welcome. In Earth’s Future, n/a‐n/a. DOI 10.1002/2016EF000416.
“However, a number of claims are frequently made in the academic and popular SRM discourses and, despite evidence to the contrary, pose the risk of hardening into accepted facts. Here, in order to foster a more productive and honest debate, we identify, describe, and refute five of the most problematic claims that are unsupported by existing evidence, unlikely to occur, or greatly exaggerated. These are (1) once started, SRM cannot be stopped; (2) SRM is a right-wing project; (3) SRM would cost only a few billion dollars per year; (4) Modelling studies indicate that SRM would disrupt monsoon precipitation; and (5) there is an international prohibition on outdoors research.”
Boyd, Philip W. (2016): Development of geopolitically-relevant ranking criteria for geoengineering methods
Boyd, Philip W. (2016): Development of geopolitically-relevant ranking criteria for geoengineering methods. In Earth’s Future, n/a‐n/a. DOI 10.1002/2016EF000447.
“Here, I use the Pinatubo archives to develop a range of geopolitically-relevant ranking criteria for a suite of different geoengineering approaches. The criteria focus on the spatial scales needed for geoengineering, and whether large-scale dispersal is a necessary requirement for a technique to deliver significant cooling or carbon dioxide reductions. These categories in turn inform whether geoengineering approaches are amenable to participation (the ‘democracy of geoengineering’), and whether they will lead to transboundary issues which could precipitate geopolitical conflicts.”
the guardian: Neil DeGrasse Tyson: ‘I think the things you might think up in a bar’
“If you had the power of geoengineering to terraform Mars into Earth, then you have the power of geoengineering to turn Earth back into Earth. So the argument that if we trash Earth we need another planet doesn’t work. I am not convinced that escaping Earth and leaving others behind to die is the most sensible solution out there.”
Friends of the Earth: Paris Climate Agreement Demands a Radical Transformation Rather Than Risky Technologies for Climate Protection
Friends of the Earth; Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung; Misereor (2016): Kurswechsel 1,5°. Wege in eine klimagerechte Zukunft. Berlin. Available online at www.bund.net/fileadmin/bundnet/pdfs/klima_und_energie/161028_bund_klima_energie_kurswechsel_broschuere.pdf
Press release on a German brochure on climate politics. “In their joint publication, “A change of course: How to build a fair future in a 1.5 degree world,” the three organizations present the dangers posed by global warming to food security and ecosystems and analyze so-called negative emission technologies such as geoengineering, offsetting of emissions, and BECCS (bioenergy with carbon capture and storage). In contrast to these questionable technologies, the policies to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees – as stipulated in the Paris Agreement – that are presented in the joint publication are not only geared toward climate mitigation but also put poverty reduction and[nbsp] climate justice at the center of attention.”
NAS: Developing a Research Agenda for Carbon Dioxide Removal and Reliable Sequestration
“The proposed study would aim to develop a detailed research and development agenda needed to assess the benefits, risks, and sustainable scale potential for carbon dioxide removal and sequestration approaches; and increase their commercial viability.”
Science Daily: New biochar model scrubs carbon dioxide from the atmosphere
News article on Woolf, Dominic; et al. (2016). “An economically viable model to scrub carbon dioxide from the atmosphere has been developed to thwart runaway, point-of-no-return global warming. The researchers propose using a “bioenergy-biochar system” that removes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere in an environmental pinch, until other removal methods become economically feasible and in regions where other methods are impractical.”
ABC Science Show: Geoengineering becoming more necessary as emissions increase and temperatures continue to rise
“As conditions worsen, geoengineering will become more necessary. Hugh Hunt argues there are many preliminary experiments which need to be run before geoengineering can be considered seriously.”
Common Dreams: With Sights Set on COP22, Group Offers Roadmap for Fair Future in Warming World
“A sustainable solution to the climate crisis will also work to alleviate poverty and seek climate justice, says Friends of the Earth Germany”
NERC: Announcement of Opportunity: Greenhouse Gas Removal from the Atmosphere
“NERC, the Engineering [&] Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), the Economic [&] Social Research Council (ESRC), the Department for Business, Energy [&] Industrial Strategy (BEIS), the Met Office Hadley Centre and the Science [&] Technology Facilities Council (STFC) are inviting research proposals for a new four-year research programme on Greenhouse Gas Removal (GGR) from the Atmosphere.”