Preview

Geoengineering paper

Best Essays
Open Document
Open Document
2593 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Geoengineering paper
Table of Contents

1. Essay Abstract
2. Introduction
3. Geoengineering: What is it?
4. Environmental Issues & Science
5. Human Impact
6. Ethical & Justice Issues
7. Conclusion
8. Bibliography

Geoengineering: A global issue
Essay Abstract Geoengineering is a set of new technologies which aim to change the environment in human favour. Considering the technology is nascent, the morality, ethics, technological knowhow and the human impact are all uncertain as they relate to geoengineering. This paper argues that on these grounds, the geoengineering issue should be a global issue. Local governments fail to implement this technology effectively. The subsidiarity test should be passed when it relates to the geoengineering issue.

Introduction With rising CO2 levels, changing weather patterns and an ever increasing intensity of weather events, governments and environmental groups are trying to address the global warming issue. There are many theories on how to deal with climate change; from a reduction in pollution to carbon capture. Geoengineering is a relatively new idea in the field of science which “describes this array of technologies that aim, through large-scale and deliberate modifications of the Earth’s energy balance, to reduce temperatures and counteract anthropogenic climate change.” (Bracmort et all., 2011: 1) The vast majority of technology is nascent and at a theoretical stage but it has the potential to affect populations and climate on a global scale. (Bracmort et all., 2011: 1) Any issue that has the ability to instigate social, environmental and political change on a global basis should consequently pass a subsidiarity test. Subsidiarity as defined by the Oxford English dictionary states that “specifically the principle that central authority should have a subsidiary function, performing only those tasks which cannot be performed effectively at a more immediate or local level.” (Peterson, no year: 117) This paper will try to show that



Bibliography: Bracmort, Kelsi et all. 2011. “Geoengineering: Governance and Technology Policy”. In CRS Report for Congress. (ed. 7-5700, 2011) (Washington: Congressional Research Service) : 1 Peterson, John. “Subsidiarity: A Definition to Suit Any Vision?”. Oxford University Press: 117 Bracmort, Kelsi et all. 2011. “Geoengineering: Governance and Technology Policy”. In CRS Report for Congress. (ed. 7-5700, 2011) (Washington: Congressional Research Service) : 9 Goodell, Jeff. 2010. How to Cool the Planet. (New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.) Dessler, Andrew. 2006. The science and politics of global climate change : a guide to the debate. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press) Brown, R. Lester. 2009. “Could Food Shortages bring down Civilization?”. Scientific America. May 2009: 50) Diamond, Jared. 2005. Diamond, Jared. 2005. Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed. (New York: Penguin Group) Elliott, Lorraine. 2004. The Global Politics of the Environment. (New York: New York University Press) Thompson, J, Michael. 2010 Geo-Engineering Climate Change: Environmental Necessity or Pandora 's Box? (Cambridge: Oxford University Press) Note that the references from text regarding Schneider, Lovelock and Breeze are all from within Thomson’s work as his book is a collection of full works.

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Powerful Essays

    Penn State Berks

    • 1903 Words
    • 8 Pages

    The purpose of this report is to persuade Penn State board members to explore the idea of starting an environmental engineering bachelor’s degree program which can be started and completed at Penn State Berks. The benefits of this…

    • 1903 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    Lower Division Capstone

    • 801 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The purpose of this paper is to create an outline with three levels for a paper that is titled “Global Warming: Fact or Fiction” and support the points listed.…

    • 801 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    The topic of my essay is extremely significant to the time we are in now to understand the greenhouse effect and global warming issues that are talked by geologists. Bill McKibben has in his article ‘Sounding the Alarm Bell’, explained the reasons for spreading awareness on global warming. Global warming has been a big issue that has effects on our environment and if not stopped, the results can be catastrophic. Carbon dioxide emissions must be reduced by at least eighty percent if we are to avoid a global warming disaster in the near future.…

    • 792 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Indium Research Paper

    • 2125 Words
    • 9 Pages

    Meyer, G and Pccot, D (2007). Geostandards and Geoanalytical Research, v.13, p. 79 – 81.…

    • 2125 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    ESRI

    • 6993 Words
    • 28 Pages

    Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI) is a privately held, debt free, company that is a global leader in Geographical Information Systems (GIS) software used for visualization and analysis of geographic data by institutional users across the globe. ESRI has pioneered this technology for four decades as it pursued its founder leader Jack Dangermond’s mission to change the world by making it spatially enabled. Since 2000, the world has changed. The new Internet companies have put electronic maps with live data and interactivity on the internet enabled desktops of every user, for free. Jack sees the Internet becoming ‘geo-enabled’ as an opportunity, but it could also be a threat if ESRI does not make the right moves. How should ESRI respond to this changing world? The case describes ESRI, its leadership, management, products and services and internal organizational structure, in order to facilitate class discussion of their strategic choices.…

    • 6993 Words
    • 28 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Response

    • 1076 Words
    • 3 Pages

    This week’s readings had the common theme of global climate change. All of these sources encompassed different aspects of climate change. John Houghton’s “The Greenhouse Effect” was more factual and scientific. S. Goerge Philander’s “The Ozone Hole, A Cautionary Tale” was informational too, however, the piece also discussed global reactions to the rapid climate change. Thomas R. Karl and Kevin E. TrenBerth’s “Modern Global Climate Change”, focused on the intensity of anthropogenic influences of climate change and the dismal projection of the future. In “Stabilization Wedges: Solving the Climate Problem for the Next Fifty Years With Current Technologies”, Stephen Pacala and Robert Socolow went in a different direction and presented a positive outlook on the improvement of the Earth’s current environmental state and introduced the idea of stabilization wedges. Lastly, the IPCC 2014 Summary report is a report that focused on looking at how nations can act to limit climate change. In the rest of this response, I will provide a synopsis of the goals and themes that were displayed in each of the readings. Finally, I will reflect on any questions or concerns the readings have evoked in me.…

    • 1076 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Wabash Watershed

    • 2188 Words
    • 9 Pages

    Houghton, J. T. (2004). Global warming: the complete briefing (3rd ed.). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University.…

    • 2188 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the early 20th century, deal dams were built in Asbury Park, USA, to limit the severe damage from the floods. This altered the attitude of people who built more houses on the flood plain assuming that it is safe. Not long after, a huge flood, beyond the capacity of deal dams’ restriction ability, occurred, causing far greater destruction than normal floods. This incident provokes the same arguments that need application in geoengineering; nature is always emerging and is unbound to the corporeal limits; a significant amount of trust in an untested entity can cause immense…

    • 909 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    “A Climate Repair Manual” by Gary Stix is about the debate of global warming. The ramifications of not initiating programs to stem the problem is “the most scientific and technical challenge that humanity has ever faced”. Stix addresses the issue of international governments needing to work together to attain “restructuring of the world’s energy economy”. Stix goes on to give various possible low-carbon energy alternatives, such as “biofuels, solar, hydrogen, and nuclear” and that inaction far out weighs “the feared economic damage” that nations face.…

    • 409 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    COURSE DESCRIPTION: This course is designed for students to prepare them for Advanced Placement courses later in their high school career in which they will seek college credit. It is for students who are highly motivated to learn and have the ability to analyze and draw connections from a variety of data about the world around them. The course provides students the opportunity to study the interaction of people and their physical environments in the major areas of the world. It introduces the students to the world of geographers, their unique vocabulary, tools and methodologies. Geography as a course offers students the opportunity to practice the geographical concepts and skills through critical thinking applications about the world.…

    • 526 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    Within the past few decades, there has been no political or public discussion as heated and controversial as the debate over climate change. Climate disputes can be traced back all the way to 1837, when Louis Agassiz proposed a theory claiming that Switzerland had once been covered with large ice sheets, and have become a big part of the international scientific community since then (Archer and Rahmstorf 2010). Today, climate change is not only a scientific issue, but it has grown into an economic and political issue as well. The rising amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, most of which has been added through human activities, has caused a climb in the average temperatures around the planet. This can have huge effects on the future of the Earth as we know it, and these plausible effects of a rising temperature have resulted in a massive uproar in today’s society. There have been many proposed solutions to the current problem of climate change, such as alternate energy or emission cuts, but no solution seems to be as unbelievable, innovative, and interesting as geoengineering. Geoengineering, which is defined by New York Times journalist William J. Broad as the “rearranging of the Earth’s environment on a large scale to suit human needs and promote habitability,” dates back to the beginning of the twentieth century, and now holds an odd place in the scientific and political debate over climate change (1, Broad 2006). To many in the scientific community, most geoengineering ideas are seen as crazy and expensive. However, in order to fully understand geoengineering’s role in the climate change discussion, one must learn about the ideas that geoengineers have come up with in order to mitigate these changes. It is also necessary to understand which of these proposed ideas are realistic and which being considered seriously as contenders in the race to cure the warming of our planet.…

    • 2708 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    “We have reached a stage in the development of our technology where we have the power to create the environment that we need or to destroy it beyond repair, according to the use we make of this power. This forces us to control this power. To do this we must first of all decide what we want to achieve. And this is far from easy…..”…

    • 1841 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Best Essays

    * Gupta, S. et al. 13.2 Climate change and other related policies, in IPCC AR4 WG3 2007…

    • 1659 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Good Essays

    The utility of the Google Earth Enterprise system has just been expanded to include access to nearly everyone within an organization subscribing to this software. Previously, Google Earth Enterprise allowed a company to take the geospatial framework of Google Earth, with its satellite imagery and 3-D terrain mapping, and infuse it with proprietary corporate information to create a new method of analyzing and planning strategies. This new development with the software allows for greater ease of access to the combined data that was previously only viewable through a 3-D program. This means that employees of these firms will now be able to tap into the Google Earth Enterprise system wirelessly, on hand held devices and laptops, or remotely via secure terminals.…

    • 275 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Best Essays

    Since the industrial revolution, the structure of world has been constantly evolving and progressing. The spread has involved the interlacing of economic and cultural activity, connectedness of the production, communication and technologies around the world, and it is now known as – globalization. The book I chose for this particular essay is Frank J. Lechner’s, Globalization: the Making of World Society first published in 2009.…

    • 2746 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Best Essays