Paging Dr. Strangelove

The latest item in the New York Times' "Energy Challenge" series (See: "How to Cool a Planet (Maybe)") introduces us to the strange world of geoengineering where outlandish-sounding schemes for dealing with global climate change are being bandied about by some of the world's leading minds -- people like Paul Crutzen (who won a Nobel for his work on ozone chemistry and also coined the word "anthropocene" to describe our current epoch) and Edward Teller (father of the hydrogen bomb and the Strategic Defense Initiative and real-life inspiration for -- wouldn't you know it? -- Dr. Strangelove).

Among the proposals being discussed: seeding the oceans with iron to promote carbon-absorbing plankton blooms; injecting sulphur particles into the stratosphere a la atmosphere-cooling volcanic eruptions; misting sea water to form sunlight-reflecting clouds; and perhaps most ambitious of all, launching trillions (yes, trillions!) of reflective lenses into orbit to help restore the Earth's energy balance.

This may all sound familiar to readers of Sierra. The July/August 2003 issue of the magazine featured an illustrated spread entitled "Creative Science" that examined, (and subtly lampooned) these ideas and more. To most of us, it would seem far more sensible and practical to engineer cars and power plants to emit less greenhouse gas than it would be to tinker with the climate system in fundamental ways that would have unpredictable consequences. The geoengineers counter that it is simply too late in the day to putter around with slow, incremental emissions reductions. As the Times' William Broad explains, geoengineering advocates hold that "humankind is already vastly altering the global environment and simply needs to do so more intelligently."

But one wonders: If we can't find the political wherewithal to negotiate an international treaty to curb greenhouse gas emissions, how do we expect to achieve the level of international cooperation (not to mention financing) it will take to make any of these sci-fi scenarios a reality? Furthermore, are we prepared to accept a future in which we humans take full responsibility for maintaining climate stability, in perpetuity?

On the other hand, it probably does make sense to explore all our options as long as we stop short (and here's the catch) of making things worse. While the geoengineers work away at their drawing boards, the world should be redoubling efforts to reduce emissions quickly using technology already at its disposal -- not counting on wild schemes to save the day. If there's anything all this geoengineering talk makes clear, it's the conviction among the best minds that we do indeed face, in Al Gore's words, "a global emergency."