
Why Geoengineering Is a Human Rights Nightmare
Geoengineering is a huge risk to human rights that could be the subject of future climate lawsuits
June 03, 2024 | Source: The Wave | by Isabella Kaminski
Geoengineering is one of those terms that has the skill of attracting sexy stories despite its surface dryness. It regularly crops up in articles exploring the latest solution to climate change – a label stuck onto a range of ways for deliberately making large-scale changes to the Earth’s natural systems, each of which have their own benefits, limitations and risks.
The geoengineering umbrella sometimes includes methods of removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, such as mass tree planting and carbon capture and storage technology. But attention is usually focused on the more theoretical and even more controversial approaches, including solar radiation management, ocean fertilisation and the manipulation of Arctic sea ice. What they all have in common is their grandiosity in assuming the right to affect a large swathe of the globe.
A respectable idea?
Proponents of geoengineering say it can play an important role in tackling climate change, with the result that technologies that were once near science fiction are now being treated as potentially viable options meriting serious attention and investment. With time fast running out to address the climate crisis, the Economist even recently proclaimed that solar engineering is becoming “a respectable idea”.
But not everyone shares such optimism, and concern about these technologies is also growing.