As climate change rapidly advances, with 2023 and 2024 vying for the hottest year on record, solar radiation modification (SRM) geoengineering strategies are gaining momentum as short-term climate fixes. These especially include proposals for the release of cooling aerosols into the Earth’s lower stratosphere. But preliminary geoengineering efforts (represented by lots of computer modeling and a smattering of small-scale field tests) are proceeding against a backdrop of public mistrust and resistance, while also provoking urgent calls by experts for national and international policies and regulatory structures to govern this burgeoning field. Many analysts are truly concerned as to whether majorly tinkering with Earth’s atmosphere — physically altering the planet’s climate — can be governed in a just way, or accomplished at all by the world’s 195 nations, which barely ever agree on anything. Who precisely, experts ask, will judge the worthiness of proposed geoengineering technologies and projects? Who will launch them, oversee and monitor them — and stop them if things go wrong? Even the research community remains divided over geoengineering. Some scientists are vigorously advocating for objective and “responsible” research into the feasibility of various technologies, including stratospheric aerosol injection (SAI). But hundreds of academics recently signed a call for a Solar Geoengineering Non-Use Agreement, specifically targeting SAI. Researchers and policymakers do broadly agree that governance is needed to safely and transparently guide small-scale field research projects and eventually regulate planetary deployment, if the world’s countries choose to go that route. Firefighters look on as wildfire flames engulf Pine…This article was originally published on Mongabay
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