Public talk: Geoengineering the Earth’s climate

Columbia University’s The Earth Institute presents the fourth of the 2014-2015 Sustainable Development Seminar Series, Geoengineering the Earth’s Climate; Risks, Opportunities, and Governance Challenges, with Scott Barrett, Lenfest-Earth Institute Professor of Natural Resource Economics, The Earth Institute, Columbia University; Michael Gerrard, Andrew Sabin Professor of Professional Practice, Columbia Law School, Director, Center for Climate Change Law, The Earth Institute, Columbia University; Alan Robock, Distinguished Professor, Editor, Reviews of Geophysics, Director, Meteorology Undergraduate Program, Department of Environmental Sciences, Rutgers University; and Richard Seager, Palisades Geophysical Institute/Lamont Research Professor, Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory, The Earth Institute, Columbia University.

Greenhouse gas driven climate change continues unabated, and it isn’t clear that the upcoming Paris conference will result in an international agreement able to prevent dangerous levels of climate change this century.  Against this background a recent National Academy of Sciences report recommended modeling and field research into geoengineering, including “solar radiation management,” as a possible way to limit climate change, despite high levels of atmospheric greenhouse gases. In this seminar, four panelists will discuss the climate impacts of solar geoengineering, the opportunities and risks it entails, and the international cooperation and conflict issues raised by purposeful intervention in the climate system.

Open to the public. RSVP required. Photo ID required for building access.

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