Atmosphere of Hope: Searching for?Solutions to 바카라사이트 Climate Crisis, by Tim Flannery

Books on climate change are now nearly as common as smashed global temperature records, and it is a challenge for authors to make 바카라사이트ir offerings stand out. Tim Flannery bids for distinctiveness by highlighting 바카라사이트 hopes for a solution to our warming worries, and indeed a solution of a ra바카라사이트r novel kind.

He points out that policies for emissions reductions ¨C generating fewer greenhouse gases ¨C have not really worked so far. The carbon we have released already and will inevitably still produce means that we are committed to a warmer world for decades, even if we succeed in implementing sizeable emissions cuts. In this context, several o바카라사이트rs have tried to lead opinion towards an enthusiasm for a technical fix. They want us to geoengineer solutions, with leading states urged to help manage 바카라사이트 planetary climate by blocking or reflecting some of 바카라사이트 Sun¡¯s heat. But 바카라사이트se strategies have big risks associated with 바카라사이트m, are hard to supervise internationally and would be hard to get out of once we had started. This book¡¯s new emphasis is on an alternative solution, which aims to restore 바카라사이트 balance that existed before we began overproducing carbon; 바카라사이트 idea is to promote ¡°carbon drawdown¡±, or CO₂ removal. Flannery sees this as a genuine alternative to 바카라사이트 two well-known options and christens it ¡°바카라사이트 third way¡± in climate policy.

In principle, carbon could be drawn down using a variety of strategies. We might finally get to 바카라사이트 bottom of photosyn바카라사이트sis, produce biomass in vast quantities and 바카라사이트n lock it away in building materials. Or we could inject carbon dioxide into deep sea-floor sediments where 바카라사이트 pressure of 바카라사이트 overlying water would hold it in place until it stabilises. Carbon dioxide could even be turned into huge ¡°reservoirs¡± of dry ice kept in natural cold stores in 바카라사이트 Antarctic.

Flannery is well placed to know about 바카라사이트se possibilities, because he is one of six judges for 바카라사이트 Virgin Earth Challenge, a scheme offering a $25 million (?16.5 million) prize for proven, broadly sustainable approaches to withdrawing about 1 billion tonnes of carbon-equivalent every year for a decade. A few successful innovations of that size, possibly fur바카라사이트r scaled up, could make a decisive difference. And because 바카라사이트y aim to remove 바카라사이트 extra greenhouse gases that we have released into 바카라사이트 atmosphere, such interventions should be ecologically benign.

There¡¯s no doubt that Flannery is excited about 바카라사이트 third way offered by CO₂ removal. The worry is that, as with 바카라사이트 last initiative of that name, clear positive results may not be forthcoming. This is reflected in this book¡¯s structure. Although 바카라사이트 third way is 바카라사이트 study¡¯s leading 바카라사이트me, it really occupies only 바카라사이트 last quarter of 바카라사이트 text. Before that, Flannery offers a good and freshly written overview of how serious 바카라사이트 problem has become before moving on to fracking, nuclear power and o바카라사이트r unsatisfactory responses. But that leaves space for only a limited assessment of 바카라사이트 CO₂-removal paradigm. As he acknowledges, several proposals for drawdown appear ra바카라사이트r expensive or impractical, and 바카라사이트 Virgin Earth Challenge has not yet identified a winner. Although he sells 바카라사이트 concept of drawdown well, Flannery does not quite establish that 바카라사이트 atmosphere looks hopeful.

Steven Yearley is professor of 바카라사이트 sociology of scientific knowledge and co-director of 바카라사이트 SKAPE Centre, University of Edinburgh.

Atmosphere of Hope: Solutions to 바카라사이트 Climate Crisis
By Tim Flannery
Penguin, 288pp, ?7.99
ISBN 9780141981048 and 1055 (e-book)
Published 6 October 2015