Hack the Planet: Science's Best Hope - or Worst Nightmare - for Averting Climate Catastrophe

Eli Kintisch

Hack the Planet: Science's Best Hope - or Worst Nightmare - for Averting Climate Catastrophe
Format
Hardback
Publisher
John Wiley and Sons Ltd
Country
United Kingdom
Published
1 April 2010
Pages
288
ISBN
9780470524268

Hack the Planet: Science’s Best Hope - or Worst Nightmare - for Averting Climate Catastrophe

Eli Kintisch

Despite the efforts of those at the Copenhagen climate meeting\nand proposals in the U.S. Senate, cutting greenhouse pollution may\nnot be enough to avert climate catastrophe. Last month nearly two\nhundred scientists from across the globe met at a historic five-day\nconference in California to begin to consider a once-heretical\nidea: deliberately controlling the climate to stave off global\nwarming. This controversial and disturbing idea is called\ngeoengineering.

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In HACK THE PLANET: Science’s Best Hope – or Worst Nightmare –\nfor Averting Climate Catastrophe (Wiley; April 2010; $25.95 /\nCloth; ISBN: 978-0-470-52426-8), Science staff writer Eli Kintisch\nlooks at the radical science behind geoengineering schemes. From\nbrightening low-level sea clouds to spraying a fine mist over the\nentire middle east, the options are wild, the science big, and the\nchallenges fascinating.

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It’s the possibility of planetary emergency that drives the\nscientists in HACK THE PLANET, and Kintisch explains just what\ntypes of climate changes would constitute such a catastrophe and\nwhat dangers lie in trying to predict the outcome of extreme\ngeoengineering measures. National Journal columnist Jonathan Rauch\nwrites, “It’s hard to imagine a more thorough and accessible guide\nto the science, and the stakes, than Eli Kintisch has\nprovided.”

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Kintisch outlines four scenarios that keep these scientists up\nat night: an ice sheet collapse, megadroughts, a release of methane\nfrom the ocean or tundra, and the shutdown of the global ocean\nconveyor belt. Then he profiles the few promising – and frightening\n– solutions. From growing algae blooms in the ocean (to capture\ncarbon) to adding pollution to the atmosphere (to deflect the sun’s\nrays), Kintisch describes plans geoengineers are developing to\ncombat global warming – and tags along with this phalanx of\ncolorful characters as they work to make their dreams a\nreality.

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The political ramifications of geoengineering could be as\nfar-reaching as the environmental ones including: the entrance of\nfor-profit businesses to the nascent field, how the opponents of\ngreenhouse gas emissions have flocked to support geoengineering,\nand the potential for geopolitical strife as nations argue over the\nplanetary thermostat.

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Simply “going green” may one day be seen as a naïve solution of\nthe past. HACK THE PLANET offers a lively yet reasoned look into\nthe newest chapter in the climate crisis.

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