Climate change and playing God

Published October 25, 2012 in Climate

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When it comes to climate change, virtually no leading climate scientists are questioning whether it's occurring. Instead, some have moved onto exploring what should be done if catastrophe is nigh. With carbon emissions spiraling upward, a doomsday scenario is still a low-probability event but not impossible to imagine. 

One solution bandied about is geoengineering, which involves radically and swiftly altering the atmosphere on a massive scale using various methods, including one that would mimic the natural effects of a giant volcanic explosion.

Sound like science fiction? Sadly it's not: It's largely no longer a question of "if" but "when." The same economic forces that lead us not to do enough about the problem in the first place may also lead us right toward geoengineering, explain EDF economist Gernot Wagner and Harvard University professor Martin L. Weitzman in a Foreign Policy article titled "Playing God."

Thoughtful, deliberate discussion among many countries and coalitions is needed now, the authors argue, before a rogue nation or even person plays god.

That's because, as scary as it sounds, "if the world can't get its act together to limit carbon emissions, geoengineering may be the only option we have."