The geoengineering question
Jane Flegal on the idea that could shatter the link between emissions and global warming
December 19, 2019
1 hr 14 min
284
Full
284 of 775
Episode 284 · December 19, 2019
The geoengineering question
0:00 / 1:14:44
Excerpt playback isn’t available for this episode — use the full-episode link.
Search the Record
Moment search isn’t open for this episode yet
When it opens, you’ll be able to type any phrase and jump straight to the second it was said.
Gray Area Episodes Around December 19, 2019
Episode 284 of 775 — walk the feed in the order it was published.
How Whole Foods, yoga, and NPR became the hallmarks of the elite
1:14:44This episodeThe geoengineering question
Summary
Most analyses of how to “solve” climate change start from a single, crucial assumption: that carbon emissions and global warming are inextricably linked. Geoengineering is a set of technologies and ideas with the potential to shatter that link.
Can we use them? Should we? Could they be used in concert with other solutions, or would simply opening the door drain support from those ideas? Even if we did want to deploy geoengineering, who would govern its use? And is mucking with the earth at this level more dangerous than climate change itself — which may, ultimately, be the choice we face?
Jane Flegal is a geoengineering expert at Arizona State University and a program officer at the Bernard and Anne Spitzer Charitable Trust. She’s able to parse this debate with an unusual level of clarity, fairness, and rigor. This isn’t an argument for or against geoengineering. It’s a way to think about it, and that turns out to be a way to think about the climate change problem as a whole.
Book recommendations:
The Planet Remade by Oliver Morton
Experiment Earth by Jack Stilgoe
Frontiers of Illusion by Daniel Sarewitz
My book is available for pre-order! You can find it at www.EzraKlein.com.
Submit questions for our upcoming "Ask Me Anything" at ezrakleinshow@vox.com
You can subscribe to Ezra's new podcast Impeachment, explained on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Overcast, Pocket Casts, or your favorite podcast app.
Credits:
Producer and Editor - Jeff Geld
Researcher - Roge Karma
Engineers - Cynthia Gil & Ed Cuervo
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Episode details and artwork are published by the show’s own feed. Sentinel plays short cited excerpts and links every episode back to its publisher.