Pandora's Toolbox

Net zero emissions is only the beginning. Smith explains the need for carbon dioxide removal and even solar radiation management to preserve our societies and ecosystems.

Reaching net zero emissions will not be the end of the climate struggle, but only the end of the beginning. For centuries thereafter, temperatures will remain elevated; climate damages will continue to accrue and sea levels will continue to rise. Even the urgent and utterly essential task of reaching net zero cannot be achieved rapidly by emissions reductions alone. To hasten net zero and minimize climate damages thereafter, we will also need massive carbon removal and storage. We may even need to reduce incoming solar radiation in order to lower unacceptably high temperatures. Such unproven and potentially risky climate interventions raise mind-blowing questions of governance and ethics. Pandora's Toolbox offers readers an accessible and authoritative introduction to both the hopes and hazards of some of humanity's most controversial technologies, which may nevertheless provide the key to saving our world.

'An overview of climate change and the array of possible responses that manages to be simultaneously comprehensive, detailed, and accessible. It's jam-packed with the sort of specic, practical detail that is usually missing in such overviews. A valuable contribution and an impressive achievement.' Edward A. Parson, Dan and Rae Emmett Professor of Environmental Law, University of California

Autorentext
As a lecturer at Yale University, Wake Smith teaches a world-leading undergraduate course on climate intervention, which forms the basis for this book. Smith is also a Senior Fellow at Harvard, writing scholarly articles on costs, aeronautics, and governance of solar geoengineering. Prior to his academic career, Smith served in several executive roles in the aeronautical industry, including as the President of a division of Boeing.

Zusammenfassung
Net zero emissions is only the beginning. In a balanced assessment of potential climate interventions, Smith explains the need for carbon dioxide removal and even solar radiation management to preserve our societies and ecosystems. Based on the author's groundbreaking course at Yale, this book is academically rigorous, passionate and accessible.

Inhalt

Prologue; Part I. Climate Introduction: 1. Where Do We Stand On Climate Change?; 2. Climate Science 101; 3. What's So Bad About Climate Change?; 4. Climate Negotiations; 5. Climate Economics; Part II. Responses to Climate Change: 6. The Energy Transition; 7. Other Mitigation; 8. Adaptation; 9. Our Descendants Will Demand Climate Intervention; Part III. Carbon Removal: 10. Natural Solutions; 11. Industrial Carbon Capture & Sequestration; 12. Direct Air Capture; Part IV. Solar Radiation Management: 13. Solar Radiation Management Alternatives; 14. Stratospheric Aerosol Injection; 15. Stratospheric Aerosol Injection Deployment; Part V. Social Ramifications of Climate Intervention: 16. Governance of Carbon Removal; 17. Governance of Solar Radiation Management; 18. Climate Ethics; 19. Public Perception; Part VI. Prospective Research Agenda: 20. The Path Forward for Carbon Dioxide Removal; 21. The Path Forward for Solar Radiation Management; Epilogue.