The Nesjavellir Geothermal Power Station (NGPS) is the second largest geothermal power station in Iceland, located near Thingvellir and the Hengill Volcano
So, Can We Cool The Planet? This was the question posed by NOVAs documentary.
The synopsis reveals the following methodologies:
Geo-engineering to reflect sunlight,
sucking CO2 out of the air using industrial fans (a Canadian technology developed in Squamish, BC),
turning CO2 into stone,
creating liquid carbon fuels out of sunlight and air,
recycling atmospheric CO2 to reduce the carbon footprint of concrete,
enlisting plants and forests to capture carbon. (Now that does make sense, as Nature has been doing that to enable life on Earth well before humanity started trashing the Planet. Ramp up? By all means, but that is not a new technology).
As the synopsis notes, even if all these white elephants ridden by white knights could be accelerated to fit the urgent timelines, they can offset only a fraction of global emissions. We need global action at small, intermediate, industrial and mega scales and we need results, yesterday, now, and definitely down the road. Fortunately, there are people and groups, cities and communities have dedicated hard work, resilience and innovation to these issues for many years already, and progress is being made, if to no great extent in the political arena of national governments and fossil-fuel corporations, then in the groundswell of public opinion and engagement. We recycle, re-purpose, restore, cut waste, consume less, conserve more, but we can't do it quick enough without structural transformation and shocks to the system. It comes back to political will.
"Will tech solve the climate crisis - or make it worse?"
This timely article appeared in The Guardian this weekend:
"Elizabeth Kolbert’s favourite movie is the end-of-the-world comedy Dr Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb. For those who need a quick recap, this cold war film features a deranged US air force general who orders a nuclear attack on the Soviet Union using weapons developed by a mad Nazi scientist played by Peter Sellers. A last-minute glitch almost forestalls an apocalyptic war, but a gung-ho B-52 pilot has other ideas. He opens the bomb doors and mounts the H-bomb as if it were a horse, waving his hat and whooping as he rides the missile towards the world’s oblivion. No heroism could be more misguided. No movie could end with a blunter message: how on Earth can we humans trust ourselves with planet-altering technology?"
We watched Dr. Strangelove recently. While the special effects are ludicrously out-dated, the plot is poignant yet hilarious and Peter Sellers maniacally brilliant.
Kolbert says: "I am trying to turn something of that Strangelove sensibility on this grave and depressing problem. I want to make people think but in a way that is not unrelentingly grim. Whether to laugh or cry has always been a fine line.”
"As one pithy Danish interlocutor puts it: “Pissing in your pants will only keep you warm for so long.” Soon humanity will need another fix that will likely create another problem."
I read Elizabeth Kolbert's previous book "The Sixth Extinction" a couple of years back. I found it to be well-researched and more than a little scary. My own stance is somewhere between journalist Kolbert's and that of climate researcher Michael Mann, who writes: "Geoengineering appeals to free-market conservatives, as it plays to the notion that market-driven technological innovation can solve any problems without governmental intervention or regulation. A price on carbon, or incentives for renewable energy? Too difficult and risky. Engaging in a massive, uncontrolled experiment in a desperate effort to somehow offset the effects of global warming? Perfect!”.
Much has been achieved already. Countless projects are in development and planned.
Mark Z. Jacobson leads www.thesolutionsproject.org. A stellar Stanford University professor like Leavitt and Ioannidis, Jacobson has presented highly-detailed transitional energy roadmaps for 143 countries, 50 U.S. states, 74 metropolitan areas, 30 mega-cities, and 53 cities and towns to convert to 100% renewable energies:
"We're an international movement of ordinary people working to end the age of fossil fuels and build a world of community-led renewable energy for all.
Here's how we get there:
1. A fast & just transition to 100% renewable energy for all
Accelerate the transition to a new, just clean energy economy by supporting community-led energy solutions
2. No new fossil fuel projects anywhere
Stop and ban all oil, coal and gas projects from being built through local resolutions and community resistance.
3. Not a penny more for dirty energy
Cut off the social license and financing for fossil fuel companies — divest, desponsor and defund.
Their plan for the next 10 years:
"The change to a renewable world is inevitable – and the beginning steps pose the greatest challenge. A world so overwhelmingly dependent on fossil fuels requires bold ideas, dramatic shifts in thinking, and action without delay. Fortunately we can find examples of this change across the world, at all levels of personal and collective engagement. This collection aims to portray a series of pioneering initiatives and their champions."
This website has scads of examples (described by country/island, region/state/district, city/town/village) along with target achieved/works in progress of existing initiatives around the world. These are projects that have the research and planning done and shovels in the ground. There are amazing initiatives everywhere. Especially innovative and effective are those cities with visionary leaders like Barcelona, Paris, Copenhagen, San Francisco, Berlin.
And just take a look at these:
We need to continue to use regenerative agriculture, permaculture, organic farming, soil carbon sequestration, reforestation, conservation, waste management with increased vigour and urgency. Good old boy Joe Biden is stuck in the old paradigm of industrial chemical agriculture with his choice of corporate crony Tom Vilsack as his Secretary of Agriculture. The bold Green New Deal will not be ratified under his watch. No need to wait for white knight Bill Gates to catch up or Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg to wake up. No need to suck air out of the place or to divert life-giving sunlight with their white elephants, either. Unintended consequences, anyone? With their obscene wealth, why can't these men leave a truly meaningful legacy? Brains but no heart, perhaps.
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