Climate Engineering and the Ocean

This chapter is about engineering for the climate and whether or not we should do it. Since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, humans have put an enormous amount of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere by burning fossil fuels. Using climate models, we can see that we need to halve emissions by 2050 to meet our 2-degree goal, and that this is possible by using climate engineering. Climate engineering is large scale, deliberate engineering of the climate system. Radiation management controls the radiation that the planet receives from the sun, using either mirrors, cloud seeding, aerosols, etc. There are feedbacks in the climate system that could be engineered, such as carbon dioxide removal through artificial trees or air-cleaning technologies. There are ideas to put limestone into the ocean to neutralize carbonic acid. Some of these attempts at cooling the planet may actually have a warming effect, and unintended side effects are a major risk of geo-engineering. 

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