Imagine our future, a prosperous and alluring world covered with green trees and thriving plant life. All the people are amicable and healthy, it is the ideal community. Sadly, this is not a viable opportunity if we continue to ignore the pressing issue of global warming. Global warming is defined as “the gradual increase in the overall temperature of the earth’s atmosphere generally attributed to the greenhouse effect caused by increased levels of carbon dioxide, chlorofluorocarbons, and other pollutants” (“Global Warming”). In simpler terms, it is the warming of our atmosphere due to the pollution created by humans. Global warming presents a particularly urgent challenge to human society, even threatening the very survival of our species.
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One of the most popular theories to reverse global warming is geoengineering. According to Jay Michaelson (1998, p. 76), “the time has come to expand our policy horizons to include geoengineering, the direct manipulation of the Earth’s climatic feedback system, as a serious alternative to ineffective and contentious regulation.” Geoengineering holds the possibility to considerably reduce greenhouse gases. There are two different types of geoengineering, carbon dioxide removal and solar radiation management. Carbon dioxide removal attempts to reduce greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and includes methods, such as afforestation, creating biochar (carbon-rich charcoal) from burnt crops and adding it to soil, capturing CO2 and depositing it into the deep ocean and rocks, ocean fertilization that increases the population of carbon-absorbing plankton, and capturing carbon right from the air. Some forms of solar radiation management include thinning high clouds to retain heat, increasing reflectivity in the atmosphere through aerosols, and spraying low clouds with sea salt to spread reflectivity. There are many different risks and uncertainties that come along with geoengineering, yet many experts believe we must study the possible
One of the most popular theories to reverse global warming is geoengineering. According to Jay Michaelson (1998, p. 76), “the time has come to expand our policy horizons to include geoengineering, the direct manipulation of the Earth’s climatic feedback system, as a serious alternative to ineffective and contentious regulation.” Geoengineering holds the possibility to considerably reduce greenhouse gases. There are two different types of geoengineering, carbon dioxide removal and solar radiation management. Carbon dioxide removal attempts to reduce greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and includes methods, such as afforestation, creating biochar (carbon-rich charcoal) from burnt crops and adding it to soil, capturing CO2 and depositing it into the deep ocean and rocks, ocean fertilization that increases the population of carbon-absorbing plankton, and capturing carbon right from the air. Some forms of solar radiation management include thinning high clouds to retain heat, increasing reflectivity in the atmosphere through aerosols, and spraying low clouds with sea salt to spread reflectivity. There are many different risks and uncertainties that come along with geoengineering, yet many experts believe we must study the possible