The human community has always altered its environment. In this respect, humans have always been "geo-engineers." In the contemporary world, however, we now live in the "anthropocene" -- the geological period in Earth history where a single biological species has come to constitute a major (and perhaps driving) bio-geo-chemical force in the global ecosystem. For this reason, the beginning of the age of fossil fuel use as an energy source we have experienced a major new chapter Earth's geological history.
How we chose to "engineer" our response to the coming changes in global climate? Can we learn to alter our habits of energy consumption? Can we "counter-act" these habits of carbon emissions? What possible outcomes lay in store for whatever options we choose? What are the limits of what we know and can know about various geo-engineering strategies? |
