The Hill: A dangerous distraction: Increasing climate risk with solar geoengineering
“Such projects are controversial, in science and non-science circles, for three main reasons.”
Tag: public opinion
Corbett, Charles (2020): Chemtrails and Solar Geoengineers: Governing Online Conspiracy Theory Misinformation
Corbett, Charles (2020): Chemtrails and Solar Geoengineers: Governing Online Conspiracy Theory Misinformation. In Missouri Law Review 85 (3). Available online at https://scholarship.law.missouri.edu/mlr/vol85/iss3/5.
“This Article assesses legal obstacles to regulating chemtrail misinformation and proposes responses that work within prevailing norms and laws governing online speech.”
The New Political: OPINION: Democrats Discuss — Geoengineering: Hail Mary or heresy?
“In the absence of action from governments, some scientists and leaders are researching and proposing the route of geoengineering. Geoengineering is not a new subject, but it has become increasingly present in climate and scientific circles.”
Raimi, Kaitlin T. (2021): Public Perceptions of Geoengineering
Raimi, Kaitlin T. (2021): Public Perceptions of Geoengineering. In Current Opinion in Psychology. DOI: 10.1016/j.copsyc.2021.03.012.
“In the face of unrelenting climate change and insufficient mitigation, experts are increasingly considering using geoengineering—carbon dioxide removal (CDR) and solar radiation management (SRM)—to manipulate the Earth’s climate. So far, most laypeople are unaware of geoengineering and many are resistant to these technologies when told about them. A growing literature finds that these initial reactions are tied to psychological traits, beliefs, and identities including trust in the actors involved, political and social identities, beliefs about tampering with the natural world, and perceived tradeoffs between geoengineering and alternative approaches. Finally, given the lack of existing knowledge of geoengineering, public acceptance is highly susceptible to how these technologies are framed, offering both risks and opportunities for climate communication.”
Spence, Elspeth; et al. (2021): Exploring cross-national public support for the use of enhanced weathering as a land-based carbon dioxide removal strategy
Spence, Elspeth; Cox, Emily; Pidgeon, Nick (2021): Exploring cross-national public support for the use of enhanced weathering as a land-based carbon dioxide removal strategy. In Climatic Change 165 (1-2). DOI: 10.1007/s10584-021-03050-y.
“This study explores how public attitudes across three countries influence support towards terrestrial enhanced weathering, whereby silicate minerals are applied to agricultural land to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.”
Arctic Today: Sámi join call to cancel a geoengineering technology test in northern Sweden
“A range in Arctic Sweden would be used to test technology related to potential future geoengineering efforts.”
Cherry, Todd L.; et al. (2021): Does solar geoengineering crowd out climate change mitigation efforts? Evidence from a stated preference referendum on a carbon tax
Cherry, Todd L.; Kallbekken, Steffen; Kroll, Stephan; McEvoy, David M. (2021): Does solar geoengineering crowd out climate change mitigation efforts? Evidence from a stated preference referendum on a carbon tax. In Climatic Change 165 (1-2), pp. 1–8. DOI: 10.1007/s10584-021-03009-z.
“Adding to a limited body of empirical evidence, we use a survey experiment to estimate how informing the U.S. public about solar geoengineering impacts support for a proposed national carbon tax. In contrast to the crowding-out hypothesis, we find that respondents who are provided with information about geoengineering are significantly more likely to support the tax.”
The Guardian: ‘It is the question of the century’: will tech solve the climate crisis – or make it worse?
“Robots on coral reefs, vast barriers to hold back the glaciers, simulated volcanic eruptions to offset global heating … Can technology repair the mess we have made? Elizabeth Kolbert is not convinced.”
Klaus, Geraldine; et al. (2021): Effects of opinion statements on laypeoples acceptance of a climate engineering technology. Comparing the source credibility of researchers, politicians and a citizens jury
Klaus, Geraldine; Oswald, Lisa; Ernst, Andreas; Merk, Christine (2021): Effects of opinion statements on laypeople’s acceptance of a climate engineering technology. Comparing the source credibility of researchers, politicians and a citizens’ jury. In JCOM 20 (01), A03. DOI: 10.22323/2.20010203.
“To examine the influence of different actors’ fictitious statements about research and deployment of stratospheric aerosol injection (SAI), we conducted an online survey in Germany. Participants assess researchers and a citizens’ jury to be more credible than politicians. Credibility has a strong positive effect on SAI acceptance in both pro-SAI and contra-SAI conditions. Reading the statement against SAI-deployment led to significantly lower acceptance scores compared to reading the pro-statement.”
Friends of the Earth International: A Leap in the Dark: The Dangers of Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS)
“Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS) is a risky, unproven, costly, and dangerous distraction from the urgent and drastic emissions cuts needed to prevent catastrophic climate change. Yet the fossil fuel industry has been keen to present it as the long-awaited magical climate fix, simply because it would enable them to keep on profiting from the destruction of our communities and ecosystems.”