There is nothing scarier to the majority of scientists . . . and me . . . than geoengineering. For anyone that is unfamiliar with that term, it is the process of spraying sulfur dioxide into the atmosphere to keep the sun from warming the planet. Shannon Osaka wrote an article in the Washington Post on January 9, 2023, called, “This firm is working to control the climate. Should the world let it?”
Osaka reports that regardless of the risks, Luke Iseman, the founder and CEO of Make Sunsets, is acting on his own without any world decision to go ahead with geoengineering experiments. He is going to make that call for the whole world? Granted he is doing it on a small scale but that is not some decision I personally want him trying out on the planet. He will then encourage others to do the same.
That turn at the Industrial Revolution created this climate crisis. Should we trust some geoengineering technology to fix it?
No one knows how this will turn out. Industrialized nations are pushing to do something drastic, as levels of CO2 continue to rise, and geoengineering is looking like their solution. I will tell you what drastic is but guaranteed to work to keep CO2 from rising . . . shut down the consumer economy for starters. What geoengineering says as a solution is the fossil fuel industry and the consumer economy have no intention of shutting down. Their solution is to keep business as usual.
During March through May 2020, here in the US, a big portion of the economy was shut down because of COVID. Everything from retail, restaurants, schools, theaters, etc. were closed. The only exceptions were grocery and hardware stores, and of course hospitals. Emissions declined not immensely but noticeably. Big Box Grocery stores remained open, so that meant the 30% of emissions from our food system kept rolling out. Those stores have a big portion of retail in them, as well.
Sure, shutting down most of the consumer economy will create massive job losses. But you know, we will just have to figure that out. The future of humanity is at stake. Everything we rely on to keep us alive is at stake, oh by the way. We need to envision a new way to live, like growing our own food, canning fruits and vegetables, sharing tools, and creating more efficient dwellings that don’t rely on fossil fuels to heat and cool them.
Here in the US, we don’t need 40 different cereals to choose from. Let’s all eat oatmeal for breakfast. We also don’t need to grow tomatoes in Mexico that hitchhike on ocean freight to China to become tomato sauce to then hitchhike back via ocean freight to the US to be transported via semi-truck to distribution centers and finally your local Big Box Grocery store shelves all across the nation. We can grow our own tomatoes.
Stop the insanity of industrialization that is creating the climate crisis and extreme weather, soil depletion, droughts, massive flooding, land disruption, warming oceans, methane release from thawing permafrost, mowing down the Amazon for more food for animal agriculture, mining, resource depletion, and biodiversity loss that will push humanity off the cliff.
Civilizations have collapsed before, . . . and, we are on our way. Can we lessen the blow?
Osaka, Shannon, The Washington Post, January 9, 2023, “This firm is working to control the climate. Should the world let it?”
An Off Grid Life - Climate Crisis Solutions 