Comments on: Geoengineering: Are Small Scale Tests Possible?

By: Enviros Split on Geoengineering Conference | The Intersection | Discover Magazine

Mon, 15 Mar 2010 13:08:35 +0000

[...] This is the first in a series of guest posts by science writer Eli Kintisch, author of the forthcoming book Hack the Planet: Science’s Best Hope–or Worst Nightmare–for Averting Climate Catastrophe, and climate change reporter for Science magazine. We’ve invited Kintisch to contribute regular guest posts at the Intersection on the topic; my take on his excellent book, due out April 19 from John Wiley, is here. [...]

By: Philip H.

Philip H. — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 18:43:10 +0000

Chris, I've tackled this before, and the bottom line is that we're in this mess because of a century of unintended and thus undirected geo-engineering. This approac hpersist because humans have a HUGE capacity to deny their own role in the Ecology of the world. Novelist Daniel Quinn, calls it "Taker" mythology. That's going to be a much tougher nut to crack the Katherine's perceptive account of the lack of education.

By: Katharine

Katharine — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 15:34:04 +0000

The citizenry is desperate. I won’t be surprised if they start doing full-scale geoengineering without testing.

With regard to literacy, I doubt the citizenry’s going to try much. Look at how much they know about everything else.

I talked to my mother, who for her own bizarre reasons hangs around people such as the ones you’re trying to reach, and she says they’re practically stuck in the 1960s. You’re going to need to do more than write books to make the world smart about science. You’re going to need to educate them better. Populate school boards with actual educators, for one – I hate it when school boards are populated by politicians or parents who are idiots.

There is a problem when most humans in the United States can’t explain cell theory or the central dogma of molecular biology!