EDIT: made a few light edits 3 hours after posting.
My bachelors is in geophysics, I got started in Earth Science out of interest in the environment and Earth Systems modeling. My take on geo-engineering is that there’s already some interest in Marine Cloud brightening to try and rescue the Arctic Ice. Also, we are already using aerosols (pollution) that cool the planet, with strong results. In fact, there’s fears that we will warm the planet by reducing our aerosol pollution. Maybe I’m biased by my background, but I think it’s important for us to improve the computer models used to predict tipping point changes and global warming scenarios. Modelers need smaller mesh sizes for modeling earth’s atmosphere but even more the oceans and also inclusion of more physical processes into their models (for example, water-pooling and drainage, bottom lubrication, rain, and ocean current effects on Greenland melt). I’m not a modeler myself, but improving model quality seems like a no-brainer to me. The climate science community needs hardware and software expertise and funds to make that happen fast.
Your appeal to EA folks makes sense, I hope you get the response you’re looking for, though I’m unclear on the value of a plan B. Yes, we need adaptation plans for extreme scenarios as their risks grow. Collecting seeds and DNA samples makes good sense, as the 6th great extinction rolls forward. However, adaptation is a near-term concern, more plan A than plan B. I don’t think there really is a plan A with any viability, at least from a public perspective. Just limiting the meat and fish supply would seem like armageddon to some folks, but doesn’t that qualify as part of plan A? I would hope so, it’s an easy, obvious, and powerful intervention to forestall famine and produce fewer GHG’s. Well, it’s not easy politically, but its easy in every other way.
I guess there are legitimate concerns about what will supply EAA’s (essential amino acids), but there’ll be soy (a lot of it no longer fed to farm animals) and whatever substitutes we use (like algae-grown proteins), and there’s always amino acid supplements taken separately or added to food.
I wanted to mention the work of ALLFED. They frame their efforts as important in case of nuclear war, but I see a larger role for them. They could contribute to proactive changes to the world’s food supply. The time to act on replacing animal agriculture is now.
Also, anything the UN can do to monitor food stocks and flows and provide early warnings of food shortages is welcome. Supposedly there’s some mechanism in place but making those redundant seems necessary. I can imagine how slow and painful response to a global shortage would be with some governments slow to recognize and act on the problem, particularly after they seek advice from food corporations rather than independent monitoring organizations.
Finally wanted to make a quick mention of potential troubles in water markets and virtual water. Water shortages could lead to wars, maybe for other ostensible reasons (protecting democracy or sovereignty), but really over water. Some UN framework to head off development of water scarcity and concentration of power in water markets would be useful, particularly by keeping corporations out of water markets. Their influence could impact sovereignty and environmental issues related to water for big importers or exporters of water-intensive products. Corporate influence over time will worsen freshwater resource disparities, discourage local water conservation, and work against reduction in overall global water use. I can also see them discouraging cheap water capture and purification technologies out of fear of losing monopoly power in water markets. In general, privatization of national water resources seems like an obvious trend to avoid or reverse.
EDIT: made a few light edits 3 hours after posting.
My bachelors is in geophysics, I got started in Earth Science out of interest in the environment and Earth Systems modeling. My take on geo-engineering is that there’s already some interest in Marine Cloud brightening to try and rescue the Arctic Ice. Also, we are already using aerosols (pollution) that cool the planet, with strong results. In fact, there’s fears that we will warm the planet by reducing our aerosol pollution. Maybe I’m biased by my background, but I think it’s important for us to improve the computer models used to predict tipping point changes and global warming scenarios. Modelers need smaller mesh sizes for modeling earth’s atmosphere but even more the oceans and also inclusion of more physical processes into their models (for example, water-pooling and drainage, bottom lubrication, rain, and ocean current effects on Greenland melt). I’m not a modeler myself, but improving model quality seems like a no-brainer to me. The climate science community needs hardware and software expertise and funds to make that happen fast.
Your appeal to EA folks makes sense, I hope you get the response you’re looking for, though I’m unclear on the value of a plan B. Yes, we need adaptation plans for extreme scenarios as their risks grow. Collecting seeds and DNA samples makes good sense, as the 6th great extinction rolls forward. However, adaptation is a near-term concern, more plan A than plan B. I don’t think there really is a plan A with any viability, at least from a public perspective. Just limiting the meat and fish supply would seem like armageddon to some folks, but doesn’t that qualify as part of plan A? I would hope so, it’s an easy, obvious, and powerful intervention to forestall famine and produce fewer GHG’s. Well, it’s not easy politically, but its easy in every other way.
I guess there are legitimate concerns about what will supply EAA’s (essential amino acids), but there’ll be soy (a lot of it no longer fed to farm animals) and whatever substitutes we use (like algae-grown proteins), and there’s always amino acid supplements taken separately or added to food.
I wanted to mention the work of ALLFED. They frame their efforts as important in case of nuclear war, but I see a larger role for them. They could contribute to proactive changes to the world’s food supply. The time to act on replacing animal agriculture is now.
Also, anything the UN can do to monitor food stocks and flows and provide early warnings of food shortages is welcome. Supposedly there’s some mechanism in place but making those redundant seems necessary. I can imagine how slow and painful response to a global shortage would be with some governments slow to recognize and act on the problem, particularly after they seek advice from food corporations rather than independent monitoring organizations.
Finally wanted to make a quick mention of potential troubles in water markets and virtual water. Water shortages could lead to wars, maybe for other ostensible reasons (protecting democracy or sovereignty), but really over water. Some UN framework to head off development of water scarcity and concentration of power in water markets would be useful, particularly by keeping corporations out of water markets. Their influence could impact sovereignty and environmental issues related to water for big importers or exporters of water-intensive products. Corporate influence over time will worsen freshwater resource disparities, discourage local water conservation, and work against reduction in overall global water use. I can also see them discouraging cheap water capture and purification technologies out of fear of losing monopoly power in water markets. In general, privatization of national water resources seems like an obvious trend to avoid or reverse.