Ethics of Climate Change and Climate Engineering
Over the last 30 years predictions of climate change as a threat to individuals, societies and nations have changed from possibilities to realities. Ethical issues associated with which individuals, companies, nations cause climate change, who might benefit from it, and who will suffer from the impacts have been part of the discussion from the beginning. How has thinking about the ethics of climate change evolved during that time and how does this relate to the ethics of extreme mitigation efforts like climate engineering? Margaret Leinen, PhD, UC San Diego Vice Chancellor for Marine Sciences, Director of Scripps Institution of Oceanography, and Dean of the School of Marine Sciences discusses what can be done, what is being done, and the ethical implications of deploying solutions.
| Ethics of Climate Change and Climate Engineering |
| Related Links |
| The Truth about Climate Change This is a two-part documentary series presented by David Attenborough, about global warming and the surrounding controversy. |
| Global Warming: What You Need to Know This is a two-hour documentary presented by Tom Brokaw, visiting global warming tipping points across the planet as experts examine the latest evidence about global warming. |
| Earth: The Climate Wars This is a three-part BBC documentary series hosted by Iain Stewart, presenting a definitive guide to the history of climate change. |
| Contemporary Climate Change as Seen Through Measurements Ralph Cicerone reviews up-to-date data on temperatures of air and water, rates of ice losses and of sea-level rise and illustrate the driving forces of greenhouse gases in an energy-balance model of Earth. |
| Climate Change: The Evidence and Our Options Lonnie Thompson provides insight into the convincing evidence of climate change provided by glaciers and polar ice-caps, and the implications that inaction in the face of this rapid change will have on societies on a global scale. |
| Solar Engineering Climate engineering-which could slow the pace of global warming by injecting reflective particles into the upper atmosphere-has emerged in recent years as an extremely controversial technology. |
| What to Know about Geoengineering What to do about the excess CO2 in our atmosphere that will remain for hundreds of years - even as we transition to renewable energy? The impact on Earth's climate is already obvious and it will continue. |