Think Tank Urges Government to Start Geoengineering Research Program

Image: Willow2012 via Wikimedia Commons under Creative Commons License

Scientists predict a daunting set of potential consequences of climate change. With the possibility of increased droughts, a higher frequency of wildfires, rising sea levels, the decimation of deep ocean sea creatures, and threats to global food security, the future of a warmer world appears bleak.

What if the unpredictable effects of climate change arrive quicker than expected? Advocates of geoengineering, which involves manipulating the Earth’s climate with technological mechanisms, some of which, like blasting large mirrors into space to reflect sunlight, come straight from the annals of science fiction, argue that geoengineering could offer a last resort fix to save the planet. It could be used as a form of “insurance,” as Graeme Pearman of Monash University has put it.  Critics, however, worry that if climate quick fixes are on hand there will be little reason for nations to cut their carbon emissions and reduce the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

Occupy Denver Marches in Rain

A man with a sign marches down Colfax Avenue. Photo: Brendon Bosworth

The weather in Denver was miserable on Saturday morning. But the steady rain and slate grey sky didn’t extinguish close to three hours of colorful, nonviolent protest. About 300 to 400 people joined Occupy Denver, a group showing solidarity with Occupy Wall Street and Occupy Together, and marched through the city’s wet streets.

Police a Hot Topic for Occupy Denver

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All images: Brendon Bosworth

How to engage with the police was a prickly topic at Occupy Denver’s general assembly last night.

About 60 to 70 people attended the 7 p.m. meeting at Civic Center Park on Broadway Street. Gathered in a circle in front of Colorado’s capitol building, flanked by a makeshift kitchen – the “thunder dome”­– which served free dinner to participants, members of the loose-knit collective, which formed thirteen days ago in solidarity with Occupy Wall Street, aired their views on engaging with the police and other issues.

Wildfires in the Western US – Scientists Predict Flammable Future with Warming Climate

Image: A wildfire in southern Montana, August 2007, captured from space by astronauts docked to the International Space Station. Credit: NASA Johnson Space Center via Flicker – NASA Goddard Photo and Video.

In March I ran a post about a NASA wildfire model that predicts increased fire activity in the Western U.S., along with other parts of the world, in future as a result of rising global temperatures. This feature (published at New West) expands on the earlier post, with insights from NASA scientist Olga Pechony (who built the NASA model with colleague Drew Shindell) and Anthony Westerling, an expert on wildfires in the West, based at the University of California’s Sierra Nevada Research Institute.