Geoengineering 'No Substitute' for Climate Targets, UK Minister Warns
Research into drastic solutions to climate change such as cloud seeding, sun shades in space and ocean fertilization risks hampering global climate negotiations by giving some countries an excuse for not agreeing to short-term emissions reductions, a UK government minister warned today.
The remarks by Joan Ruddock, a minister in the Department of Energy and Climate Change, appear to be a thinly veiled dig at the Bush administration, whose delegation attempted to insert a section into last year’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report on developing technology to block sunlight and cool the planet. The proposed text referred to it as an “important insurance” against the impacts of climate change.
Speaking to MPs on the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills select committee, Ruddock was defending the government’s unwillingness to fund research into so-called geoengineering – large-scale, untested interventions that either soak up carbon dioxide or prevent sunlight warming the planet
“The concern is that people who don’t want to enter into agreements that mean they have to reduce their emissions might see this as a means of doing nothing, of being able to say, ‘science will provide, there will be a way out’,” she said, “it could be used politically in that way which would be extremely unfortunate.”
She added that funding research on such projects would deflect engineers away from more pressing solutions to climate change such as carbon capture and storage – extracting carbon dioxide from the emissions put out by fossil fuel power stations and injecting it underground.
To read the rest of this article, please click here.
For related news, check out Environment.
Photo: woodleywonderworks/flickr
- Posted by Causecast
- |
- Go to original article
Related causes: Environment
Related Articles
-
Betacup Offers $10,000 Prize For Sustainable Coffee Cup Design Contest
Over 58 billion disposable coffee cups are tossed into landfills each year. Put your design skill...
- 03.19.10
- |
- 03:46pm
-
Roshaneh Zafar, Winner Of 2010 Global Leadership Award, Empowers Women In Pakistan With Microfinance
For almost 15 year, Roshaneh Zafar has helped Pakistani women find economic empowerment. Find out...
- 03.19.10
- |
- 02:30pm
-
Beyond Sport Awards: How Sports Inspire Social Change
The Beyond Sport Awards honor individuals and organizations that use sports to improve communitie...
- 03.18.10
- |
- 06:02pm
-
Lt. Dan Choi Arrested At 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' Protest In Washington, D.C.
Following a 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' protest in the nation's capital, discharged lieutenant and ga...
- 03.18.10
- |
- 11:53am
-
National Safe Place Week: Keeping Homeless Teens Safe
Over a million American teens find themselves homeless each year. In honor of National Safe Place...
- 03.17.10
- |
- 04:44pm
This is a great story and let be honest we only have so many engineers to go around so if they could work on things that work and make them even better im all foit. Check out our solution.
SUSTAINABLE CLEANTECH SOLUTION TO IMMINENT CLIMATE CHANGE
DISASTER
Sunshine Coast, October 25, 2009 – With less than two months to go before the UN Climate Change Conference, the leaders of most countries are a worried lot. EcoEnforcers, a Queensland, Australia based company, has come up with a sustainable renewable energy source that meets both short term as well as long term needs. It is a global solution to urban renewable energy using a biomass hybrid battery technology to produce 2 x 1MW of power, 1MW for their fully designed “EcoEstates” and 1 MW put into the grid.
In the words of Jarreau Terry: "EcoEnforcers will lead the global economy for climate change. Nations within nations will prosper, and single-handedly be withdrawn from the global financial crisis. A momentus occasion that will inevitably re-define the Twenty-First Century."
http://www.ecoenforcers.com
Contact:
Jarreau Terry, Founder & CEO
pr2@ecoenforcers.com