A new book by Wake Smith, “Pandora’s Toolbox,” explores controversial ideas for artificially cooling the planet. Smith discusses the hopes and hazards of geoengineering in an exclusive Mongabay interview.
Initiatives to inject billions of aerosol particles into the stratosphere to deflect solar rays and cool Earth are too risky to go forward; governments must act fast to rein in potentially disastrous planetary-scale solar geoengineering, say critics.
The normally idyllic resort island of Bali in Indonesia has hogged international headlines since last month, following the eruption of Mount Agung that has driven tens of thousands of residents…
For decades, scientists have been grappling with the consequences of climate change and working toward viable solutions. Climate engineering, also known as geoengineering, is the most controversial possible solution. Currently,…
Geoengineering schemes that aim to slow global warming by seeding oceans with iron to boost carbon dioxide-absorbing phytoplankton may not lead to long-term sequestration of the important greenhouse gas, finds…
Scientists and experts are increasingly concerned that we are entering an age of ecological collapse with untold impacts for future generations. In Daniel Rirdan's new book, The Blueprint, he outlines…
In 1990, British cloud physicist John Latham published a paper arguing he could cool global climate by brightening clouds over the ocean. Most colleagues ignored the paper, titled “Control global…
The ongoing decline in Arctic sea ice hit a new record this year that rocked even the most pessimistic predictions. The low sea ice extent hit 18 percent below the…
Diatom, a type of phytoplankton, as seen by a scanning electron microscope. Photo by: University of Tasmania Scanning Electron Microscope. For a long time, oceanic iron fertilization was seen as…
Underground storage of carbon dioxide may trigger earthquakes which could allow the gas to seep back into the atmosphere, rendering the emissions mitigation approach ineffective, warns Stanford geophysicist Mark Zoback.…
Efforts to explore geoengineering, whereby governments would employ large-scale projects to alter the world's climate in a bid to combat climate change, received mixed messages this week. In Nagoya, Japan—where…
The idea goes something like this: nations would send megatons of light-scattering aerosol particles into the globe's upper atmosphere, significantly reducing sunlight reaching the earth and thereby immediately cooling the…
Considering it is unlikely that global carbon emissions will start dropping anytime soon, researchers are beginning to look at other methods to combat climate change. One of these is to…
Largely ignored by scientific community, new theory could change how future generations view forests Two Russian scientists, Victor Gorshkov and Anastassia Makarieva of the St. Petersburg Nuclear Physics, have published…
A controversial 'ocean fertilization' experiment suggests seeding the seas with iron to boost carbon-absorbing phytoplantkon will not sequester much carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Some — including researchers and private…
Iron fertilization of oceans less effective in sequestering carbon than previously estimated
New process may fight climate change by storing billions of tons of CO2 in rock New process may fight climate change by storing billions of tons of CO2 in rock…
Geoengineering schemes need ranking system to avoid wasting money, destroying the planet Geoengineering schemes need ranking system to avoid wasting money, destroying the planet mongabay.com October 26, 2008 Schemes to…
Shell Oil underwrites "open source" geoengineering project to fight global warming Shell Oil funds "open source" geoengineering project to fight global warming mongabay.com July 21, 2008 Shell Oil is funding…
Geoengineering solution to global warming could destroy the ozone layer Geoengineering solution to global warming could destroy the ozone layer mongabay.com April 24, 2008 A proposed plan to fight global…
Planktos kills iron fertilization project due to environmental opposition Planktos kills iron fertilization project due to environmental opposition mongabay.com February 19, 2008 Planktos, a California-based firm that planned a controversial…
Too early to say if iron seeding will slow global warming - scientists Too early to say if iron seeding will slow global warming - scientists mongabay.com January 10, 2008…
New research discredits a $100 billion geoengineering fix to global warming New research discredits a $100 billion geoengineering fix to global warming Michael Lutz, University of Miami November 29, 2007…
Ocean CO2 collector could fight global warming and ocean acification Ocean CO2 collector could fight global warming and ocean acification mongabay.com November 20, 2007 Researchers have proposed a geoengineering solution…
Weathering technology could mitigate global warming Weathering technology could mitigate global warming Harvard University November 8, 2007 Researchers invent technology to accelerate Earth's own solution to greenhouse gas accumulation Researchers…
Iron boosts carbon sequestration by the ocean Wind-blown dust boosts biological productivity of ocean mongabay.com August 23, 2007 Wind-blown iron contributes significantly to the biological productivity of the Southern Ocean…
Geoengineering cure for global warming could cause problems Proposed cure for global warming could cause problems mongabay.com August 14, 2007 Proposed geoengineering schemes to reduce global warming may do more…
WWF condemns iron fertilization scheme to fight global warming WWF condemns iron fertilization scheme to fight global warming mongabay.com June 28, 2007 Environmental group WWF condemned a scheme by Planktos,…
