Resnick Institute Seminar

Lack of progress in cutting greenhouse gas emissions has prompted a debate over solar geoengineering.  Reflecting some sunlight back to space, e.g. by adding aerosols to the stratosphere, would cool the planet and might reduce some of the risks associated with climate change.  However, this introduces many other concerns, from physical climate-system effects, to ecosystem responses, to societal feedbacks.  

I will talk about progress and challenges in evaluating solar geoengineering towards better assessing this risk-risk trade-off.  For example, how can we design strategies that would mitigate some of the risks of geoengineering, such as uncertainty regarding the climate effects (how do we engineer a system that we don't understand?) or perceived "winners and losers" from regional inequalities (concern over who gets to set the thermostat?)  Geoengineering is at least in part a control problem, and engineering tools can help – from optimization that minimizes regional differences, to feedback that helps manage outcomes despite uncertainty.