10 ideas that are changing the world

#1 common wealth
#2 end of customer service
#3 the post-movie star Era
#4 reverse radicalism
#5 kitchen chemistry
#6 geoengineering
#7 aging gracefully
#8 curing the "dutch disease"
#9 women's work
#10 Beyond the olympics


Geo-engineering refers to the deliberate modification of earth's environment on a large scale to suit human needs and promote habitatibility.

is this technology a bane,

or boon to our society?
"For most environmentalists, the answer to that depressing litany is to keep pushing the same message harder: cut carbon and cut it now." Critics of geoengineering argued that it made more sense to avoid global warming than to gamble on risky fixes. They called for reducing energy use, developing alternative sources of power and curbing greenhouse gases.

However, "as the difficulty of reducing greenhouse-gas emissions has become harder to ignore, it is slowly emerging as an option of last resort." International efforts like the Kyoto Protocol — which the United States never ratified, and which China and India as members of the developing world never had to obey, freeing the current and projected leaders in greenhouse gas emissions from its restrictions — have so far failed to diminish the threat. Scientists estimate that the earth's surface temperature this century may rise as much as 10 degrees Fahrenheit. If nobody puts in the effort to try to cut greenhouse-gas emissions, we would have to resort to geo-engineering.

Thus, i feel that it is a good idea to start thinking about how to make-use of geo-engineering in case we need it some day. Some technology include "spreading sulfur particles into the atmosphere to compensate for a doubling of the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere." geo-engineering could be the only way to reduce fast rising temperatures, even though there would be many disadvantages if we decide to use this new technology.

In the case of spreading sulfur particles into the atmosphere,
#1it would worsen air pollution where there are already tons of sulfur in the air being released from the coal-fueled plants.
#2this technology requires a massive capital
#3the motivation to reduce greenhouse gases in the environment would be lost

Thus, i agree with the author, "Unless the geopolitics of global warming change soon, the Hail Mary pass of geoengineering might become our best shot." Governments of different countries should start doing something about reducing greenhouse gases. Like for example, setting rules and regulations for factories to only produce this limited amount of greenhouse gases. There could be many other things the government can do and if all governments do so, maybe, we will not need to rely on geo-engineering.