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This weekly thread will focus on Climate Change. We're not going to discuss if it exists (it very obviously does), but what we can do. I've seen a lot of blame thrown around, but not much on what can actually be done so I'd like to get some ideas on that front.
Some Starters (and don’t feel you have to speak on all or any of them if you don’t care to):
- Should the focus be on individual actions or holding corporations accountable for their environmental impact?
- Should governments prioritize investment in renewable energy over fossil fuels, even if it means higher short-term costs?
- Is it more effective to implement strict climate change laws or to rely on voluntary measures and market-driven solutions?
- Should countries be obligated to accept climate refugees displaced by environmental changes?
- Is geoengineering a viable solution to combat climate change, or does it pose too many risks?
- Should climate change education be mandatory in schools worldwide?
I'll bite. I think geoengineering is the only way we solve this without going to global governance (which wouldn't happen on time without major wars).
I'd argue that we can put solar sails/shades in the Earth-Sun L1 Lagrange point and reduce incoming sunlight be up to ~0.5%. And that it wouldn't be that risky at all. It'd just be another mega construction project, and not a particularly nasty one even.
But I haven't done the engineering on it. I only speak as someone who did Planetary Science in grad school, and knows a bit about orbital mechanics. I once gave a grad school level presentation on solar sails while wearing a colander on my head, so that's exactly how hard I've thought about it.
If I had Elon's money and needed a redemption arc...
Geoengineering without getting global buy-in is absolutely going to start major wars.