Professor Jim Haywood defined geoengineering as using technology to control the climate. It is our use of technology that is the driver of climate change so by using the name geoengineering we are suggesting that it can become an engineering discipline and that we can exert control over the climate.
So the question is less about whether we should continue to modify the climate in an uncontrolled manner and more about how we attempt to rectify the damage done in a controlled manner.
The Technical Summary of the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report (2013) in Box TS.7 | Climate Geoengineering Methods is not optimistic about Carbon Dioxide Reduction (CDR) where it states The level of confidence on the effectiveness of CDR methods and their side effects on carbon and other biogeochemical cycles is low. Regarding Solar Radiation Management (SRM) it states There is medium confidence that SRM through stratospheric aerosol injection is scalable to counter the RF [Radiative Forcing] and some of the climate effects expected from a twofold increase in carbon dioxide concentration.
I have mixed feelings about geoengineering. If you have the good fortune to live on a planet with a climate sufficiently stable to support the development of civilization it makes a lot of sense not to act in a way that damages that stability! The damage has now been done and it is far from clear how (or even if) it can be repaired and whether geoengineering will be a blessing or a curse.
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