For years we have been trying to become masters of the situation, but the weather phenomena are becoming more and more extreme. Climate change has become a constant companion and no one knows how we can unite the world and save our planet together.

However, there are interesting approaches to influence the climate. In recent years, climate and geoengineering have emerged as a promising technology that has the potential to combat climate change.

Types of Geo-Engineering

Climate engineering is a broad term and encompasses many different methods to influence the climate. Here we present a few of the prominent climate engineering technologies:

  • Solar Radiation Manipulation / Solar Radiation Management (SRM)
    Here we try to reduce the solar radiation to such an extent that the global warming is strongly limited. The aim is to intercept the sun’s rays on their way to earth. This is done by using large mirrors in space or artificial clouds which weaken the radiation. At present still with large urge one researches, since the science is still little conscious of the consequences.

  • CO2 storage
    The aim is to filter carbon dioxide from the air and store it in the long term. There are various approaches to this. The simplest and most natural way would be to reforest the global forests. Massive reforestation could save up to 10% of CO2 consumption, requiring an area the size of the USA. Other ways would be to use vegetable carbon or to store the CO2 in underground reservoirs. Research in this field is also ongoing.

  • Weather modification
    The goal is to produce weather that is as conducive as possible or to prevent damaging weather events. This type of geoengineering has been around for a very long time, for example in viticulture. Here, smoke clouds have long been used to ward off frost in the spring so that the harvest is not damaged. Also planted green areas are a way around for example the drying out in steppe areas to prevent. More technical is the attempt to influence the weather on a large scale, but this is still in the experimental stage. Thereby one tries to cause rain by cloud inoculation consciously, either to let it rain before the desired areas, or to let it rain on certain areas.

Advantages/disadvantages of climate/geoengineering

The benefits cannot be denied, temperatures are rising and climate change can no longer be denied. Something must be done urgently, a reduction of global CO2 emissions to a high degree is currently not in sight. Climate engineering offers a way to counteract this catastrophe, sticking to the road is no solution. We could work against the inevitable chaos with the help of modern science.

Of course, the ethical problems and risks associated with geoengineering are also a cause for concern. Manipulating the climate can of course backfire, with unpredictable consequences and undesirable side effects. Also geopolitical tensions would be a conceivable consequence, so certainly regions are preferred in which more privileged people live, and just the regions that urgently need help would not. In particular, it should be noted that scientific counteraction would most likely be used as an excuse for not paying more attention to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.

The Future

Climate change is more than just global warming, colder, warmer, wetter, drier, everything will move to the extreme. Collectively, we don’t have much time left to take charge and save our planet from complete chaos.

Climate or geoengineering is without a doubt a fascinating science and combines great technologies under one roof. Various approaches could help to stabilize the climate in addition to lowering emissions. However, this research is to be enjoyed with caution, to intervene too strongly in nature can also bring disasters with it. More research and work is needed on the international applications of this science. But the potential is clearly visible.