To solve the challenges of climate change, some techno-optimists advocate technological fixes, known as climate geoengineering—from spraying sulfate aerosols into the atmosphere to reflect more solar energy back into space, to fertilizing the ocean with pulverized iron to stimulate blooms of phytoplankton that take up carbon during photosynthesis and carry it to the ocean floor when they die. To most of us, these ideas breed angst. Hence the appeal of what might be called “natural geoengineering.” Natural ecological processes already offer many reliable and safe ways to remove CO2 from the atmosphere. Currently, natural processes—such as photosynthesis by tropical trees and marine phytoplankton, and CO2 absorption by ocean waters—remove and store more than half of the carbon emissions generated by human activities. With thoughtful environmental stewardship there is the promise of doing more, and doing it in more environmentally friendly ways… A very interesting analysis.
Natural geoengineering: A techno-fix to remove CO2 from the atmosphere we can all like
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