A Case for Climate Engineering

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Publisher’s blurb

Climate engineering—which could slow the pace of global warming by injecting reflective particles into the upper atmosphere—has emerged in recent years as an extremely controversial technology. A leading scientist long concerned about climate change, David Keith offers no naíve proposal for an easy fix to what is perhaps the most challenging question of our time. But he argues that after decades during which very little progress has been made in reducing carbon emissions, we must put climate engineering on the table and consider it responsibly. This book provides a clear and accessible overview of the costs and risks, and how climate engineering might fit into a larger program for managing climate change.

Citation

David Keith, A Case for Climate Engineering, A Boston Review Book, MIT Press, 2013

A Case for Climate Engineering"The negative effects of climate change will disproportionately impact the world’s poor. David Keith’s candid and thoughtful book lays out a compelling argument about the need for serious research on geoengineering and for a robust policy discussion on its possible use."
-Bill Gates (From the book's back cover)

"Keith’s proposal is audacious at first, but in the course of this brief book he makes a convincing case—both for not being a kook and for the possibilities of climate engineering."
-Slate 2 Oct 2013

"This is a provocative book ... by one of the few real experts on the subject. David Keith is a technophile environmentalist with a weakness for the wilderness, who argues that a “brutally ugly technical fix” – injecting sulphate aerosols into the stratosphere – is one of the tools that we need to deploy real soon. He is frank about the risks and disadvantages of this technique, but concludes that the benefits would outweigh them – especially for those who are most at risk from climate change. If you want to increase your understanding of solar geoengineering, and you don’t mind having your assumptions challenged, this is the book to read"
-John Shepherd, FRS

See also: David Keith