GEOENGINEERING IS NOT POLITICS
It’s an election year, and the heat is on. The US presidential election
gets the world to pay attention, and somehow, informed people around the
world have their pick, albeit they are not eligible to vote. The
election is big, widely reported, and gets interesting. There are two
major sides in the election, when a side raises a point, the opponent
counters. The election, like in ‘08 is coming amidst economic issues
and, wobbling recovery; both sides have good stuffs, but this may never
be admitted by the opponent.
Politics is found in other areas of business, aside from democratic
government setup, but it is limited or missing in a few areas.
Science research, for example, has not been about sides, where
discovery is made by one side and another side’s sole work is to
invalidate it. What normally follows is improvement. Developments in
science and technology won’t be where it is, if it was politically
styled, but there are examples of modern-day politics in some aspects of
science and research, backed by sides and interests.
An example is global warming, an aspect of climate science that defines
upward shifts in the average temperature of the earth due to
anthropogenic activities. It is said to be responsible for climate
change, or deviations in usual weather conditions around the world.
Global warming is an issue canopied with the divide of believing or
not-believing.There are researches that are there to show that global
warming is a lie, there are articles, books, events and the no-action to
curb emissions responsible for it. There are, on the contrary, efforts
for global warming. We see presently in global warming, real, clear,
politics, with offensive, defensive play.
Politicizing global warming is bad for climate science, and bad for
progress. It has crept into a related area, climate engineering (or
geoengineering). Geoengineering is the deliberate large scale
manipulation of an environment process that affects the earth’s climate,
in an attempt to counteract anthropogenic global warming. ‘No one’
absolutely supports geoengineering but there are ‘many’ against it.
Scientists and policy folks working on geoengineering continue to refer
to disadvantages around the subject, even when they present its
possibilities; but there are those who take the disadvantages and make
it a call.
These folks are opponents and the former are somewhat proponents.
Geoengineering ‘politics’ is wonderful. Where proponents talk about the
techniques, its good and unknowns; sincerely saying mitigation is
better, and other stuffs that lists the techniques as risky. Opponents
allude geoengineering disadvantages, presenting it like proponents do
not talk about it; denigrating the subject in ways that present
proponents as serving their interests, for a co-owned planet. Opponents
of geoengineering also have claims on stuffs about the subject they
believe is ongoing. Nobody wants geoengineering, and this is the truth.
Scientists proposed it as a quick-fix solution if the earth’s climate is
about a tipping point, while action on mitigation catches up.
Scientists, with all the evidence cannot control World Leaders to
collectively mitigate emissions -- effectively. World Leaders on the
other hand, cannot control mitigation-dependent situations like current
economic woes -- fast enough, and adoption of renewables -- extensively.
Geoengineering came off this understanding. It is, at this time not
certain for large-scale deployment, and has a long way to that
destination, if it ever will. Geoengineering is now like politics,
because there is an opposition; but scientists and policy folks want to
avoid an exchange.
Responding to every claim, will stain the subject; but it is now
necessary to make moves on the defensive, that will be indirect, but
will save efforts on geoengineering from being misinterpreted; since the
opposition will continue to bash the subject and those working on it.
Their clear information and evidence will coax more people against the
subject, than scientist’s academic-styled reports. Geoengineering is
being researched, and it is a broad term. Real geoengineering (or
climate engineering) work is limited to certain countries, but related
activities classified as geoengineering ‘is taken’ for deployments in
other regions including the States, Europe and Australia.
Geoengineering is not politics and will not be politics, because
scientists understand the risks. It is however advisable to start
developing geoengineering presentably for the public, where the media
will not solely have the power for reports, and technical-terms will not
discourage interests. More meetings in ‘new’ countries, interactive and
updated sets of websites, research regulations and clear objectives will
save the subject from one-sided zeal -- politicizing geoengineering.
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