Climate scientist David Keith sets the record straight
August 14, 2024 edition of Plan B Post.
This week, David Keith says The New York Times misrepresented his stance on solar geoengineering. Here, Plan B Post shares his clarification.
LAST WEEK, David Gelles at The New York Times profiled the world’s leading geoengineering scientist, David Keith. This week, the University of Chicago professor sets the record straight.
Keith’s 1,200 word reaction statement is too long to publish here, so let’s get to the essence of it:
Keith says the Times suggests an “all-in” vs “all-out” dichotomy. But the truth is, he says, people like him who are willing to contemplate the use of solar geoengineering are fully aware of the risks. And opponents know the benefits.
Like geoengineering opponents, he writes, “I fear that fossil fuel interests or fossil-rich nations will exploit solar geoengineering… to weaken controls on carbon emissions. I also believe I was the first to call this concern a moral hazard almost a quarter century ago.”
Throughout the article, Gelles at the Times’ sets Keith and other researchers as bitter opponents, when they all share common goals (reversing climate change) and views (that we only have difficult choices).
FOR A fuller sense of David Keith’s actual position on geoengineering, see his 2021 column — also published in the Times. Here’s an excerpt:
“To cool the planet in this century, humans must either remove carbon from the air or use solar geoengineering, a temporary measure that may reduce peak temperatures, extreme storms and other climatic changes. Yes, this is what it comes down to: carbon removal or solar geoengineering or both. At least one of them is required to cool the planet this century. There are no other options.”
— David Keith, 2021
MIRA ROJANASAKUL and Raymond Zhong of The New York Times this week share a disturbing and beautifully illustrated story. Their survey of the catastrophic global tipping points we increasingly risk only highlights how important it is to reduce carbon emissions and cool the earth.
(That’s why some of us feel we have no alternative but to investigate cooling techniques like stratospheric aerosol injection, despite the ick factor.)
Which will go first? The polar ice caps? The coral reefs? The monsoon? The permafrost? Rojanasakul and Zhong’s story is well worth reading.
In a related story, new research shows Australia’s Great Barrier Reef has suffered “off the charts” damage from rising ocean temperatures. The reef is the largest living structure on the planet, but for how much longer?
RESEARCHERS HAVE discovered that higher levels of CO2 cause older trees to grow more wood. Professor Richard Norby, from the University of Birmingham, says this suggests mature woodland actually has an important role to play in carbon removal. Each hectare of old-growth absorbs some 10% of the CO2 emitted by a single commercial passenger aircraft flying one-way London to New York.
“Electrification requires a lot of copper. But the amount of copper needed for each part of the cleantech revolution is declining faster than the demand for cleantech is rising. Just one example: between the first and second iteration of the Rivian electric vehicle, designers figured out how to remove 1.6 miles of copper wire from each vehicle.”
— Cory Doctorow in this week’s Pluralistic newsletter, an ode to climate engineering
BILL GATES again proves his leadership in battling climate change. his Breakthrough Energy Ventures (BEV) pushed climate-focused venture capital funds to a high point in the first half of 2024. Funds raised $6.9 billion in the six months, compared to $5.2 billion for the entirety of 2023, reports Venture Capital Journal. Which of these companies will produce the innovations that help stop climate change? Time will tell.
THE ASSOCIATED Press’ Jennifer McDermott asked the experts whether next generation nuclear reactors would really be ready in time to make a difference to the "decisive decade" for global warming.
VIETNAM AND, to a lesser extent, Indonesia are getting ahead of the European Union’s carbon tariffs with help from EU expert Philip Rose. A laggard? Thailand.
SWISS EXPLORER Bertrand Piccard is building a hydrogen-powered aircraft to fly non-stop around the equator in just nine days. Piccard is renowned for his pioneering flights around the world in a balloon and a solar-powered plane. He’s perhaps less celebrated for catchy names. He called his solar powered plane Solar Impulse and the new plane will be the Climate Impulse.
SUSTAINABLE AVIATION fuel made from waste, cooking oil, and animal fats can reduce jet contrails by 56%. Because contrails reflect heat radiation back to Earth, they probably cause 57% of aviation’s climate impact. Unfortunately, to date, there is only enough sustainable fuel to cover one half of one percent of what’s needed.
To help solve that challenge, the U.S. Department of Energy’s Sustainable Aviation Fuel Grand Challenge aims to expand domestic consumption of the fuel to 3 billion gallons in 2030 and 35 billion gallons in 2050.
“This is about acting in an emergency. Nobody asked me whether I wanted to have runaway climate change. And, you know, we shouldn’t have to ask permission to try to fix it.”
— Luke Iseman, Co-founder of Make Sunsets in Noema magazine’s profile this week.
That’s it for this week. Thanks for reading and keep up the good fight.