Many people believe that their activities, solutions, and opportunities are beneficial for the environment and the promotion of healthy and safe life on the planet. People regard themselves as powerful and inventive creatures that can investigate the world and make it better. At the same time, they neglect the fact that the majority of their actions and decisions are the main sources of climate destruction and worsening.
Human activity is a crucial factor that may impose significant impacts on the natural environment (Xu 103), and geoengineering is one of the possible human responses to climate change, a kind of doubtful intervention that helps to protect the work of the planet from people via the same people’s actions. In order to comprehend if geoengineering may be identified as a possible response to climate change, it is necessary to understand the essence of geoengineering and the examples that can be used to influence the earth’s entire ecosystem.
Nowadays, geoengineering is one of the contentious issues, a kind of environmental manipulation that evokes strong reactions among all levels of society (Thornes and Pope 1). It is defined as “a range of techniques for reducing global warming through intervention in the planet’s climate system, by removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere… or by reducing away a small percentage of inbound sunlight” (Hanafi par. 4).
On the one hand, this definition is clear and specific and helps to understand that geoengineering is a chance for people to improve the planet by means of their own decisions and actions. On the other hand, this explanation can be interpreted in a variety of ways because people are free to choose different options and observe rather different consequences on the planet and their own lives. The only fact that stays clear and adjusted is the change of the earth’s climate that leads to the devastation of the world’s ecosystem and human population.
Today, the evaluation of written reports, the organization of discussions, and the oral identification of the importance of geoengineering (Wood, Gardiner, and Hartzell-Nichols 430) are not enough to find a solution to the problem of climate change. It is high time for people to start taking some actions and consider the importance of their behavior in regards to nature.
Geoengineering can be identified as an attempt to promote a re-balance of the Earth’s working system through direct and clear solutions. Due to the fact that climate changes are usually caused by the existing greenhouse effect that is created on the basis of increased temperatures on Earth, it is possible to reduce the amount of solar energy and cool the planet or to remove carbon dioxide and other harmful gases from the atmosphere and replace them in the area where they cannot do harm to people and the atmosphere.
The management of solar radiation is a significant activity that aims at the identification of the amounts of solar energy received and the creation of the blocks and screens that can help to reduce the number of solar energy the Earth could receive (Lunt 9). People can use the idea of volcanic eruptions when sulfur dioxide gas is fired and its outcomes on nature. It is possible to put sulfur dioxide in the atmosphere, make it react with water vapor, and create the droplets that send sunlight back the way mirrors can do. Another example is connected with the production of carbon dioxide that becomes the main type of damage in the atmosphere (Keith 26).
The solution to this problem is to stop or reduce producing carbon dioxide. The development of phytoplankton, ocean pipes, and biochar (that is made of charcoal to capture carbon) is still under numerous discussions of the scientists around the whole world. Such activities may not remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Still, they can help to reduce or replace it in the safe areas.
Still, the viability of all approaches and ideas are under a question because not many people are ready to take such crucial steps and consider the importance of climate change outcomes. It may happen that the representatives of one country are eager to use geoengineering as the solution to their climate problems. However, neighbor countries may reject the importance of the same ideas. Therefore, the development of new approaches and the production of new technologies can work only in case all countries start talking about its importance.
It means that the importance of geoengineering should be not only discussed but also funded around the whole world. People have to understand their responsibilities with regard to nature and the outcomes of their activities. The methods and examples of geoengineering mentioned before are expensive and time-consuming. Unfortunately, the outcomes of geoengineering activities are hard to predict, and people remain to be unknowledgeable about the importance of their actions.
In general, geoengineering is an achievement that cannot be neglected. Though people think that money investments in the discussion of environmental problems and challenges are not always justified, they have to realize that all of them are guests on the Earth. Sometimes, the Earth can be rather welcoming and friendly. Still, it is dangerous and inappropriate for people to use nature’s hospitality as something ordinary and expected. It is high time to start thinking about what people can do to please nature and promote environmentally safe conditions.
Works Cited
Hanafi, Alex. “Geoengineering the Climate May Be Possible, But Who Decides?” Environmental Defense Fund. 2014. Web.
Keith, David. A Case for Climate Engineering. Cambridge: MIT Press, 2013. Print.
Lunt, Daniel, J. “Sunshades for Solar Radiation Management.” Geoengineering Responses to Climate Change: Selected Entries from the Encyclopedia of Sustainability Science and Technology. Ed.Tim Lenton and Naomi Vaughan. New York: Springer, 2012. 9-21. Print.
Thornes, John, E. and Francis D. Pope. “Why Do We Need Solutions to Global Warming?” Geoengineering of the Climate System. Ed. Roy Harrison and Ron Hester. Cambridge: Royal Society of Chemistry, 2014. 1-21. Print.
Wood, Robert, Stephen Gardiner, and Lauren Hartzell-Nichols. “Climatic Change Special Issues: Geoengineering Research and Its Limitations.” Climatic Change. 121 (2013): 427-430. Springer Science. Web.
Xu, Liqiang. Impact of Climate Change and Human Activity on the Eco-Environment: An Analysis of the Xisha Islands. New York: Springer, 2014. Print.