Can Humans Manage the Atmosphere?

As recently as 2006, geoengineering — using countermeasures to blunt the heat-trapping impact of accumulating greenhouse gases or sop them up directly — had a someday feel to it. The following video clip is a fun introduction to some of the basic ideas:

But the failure of recent efforts to curb greenhouse-gas emissions has built some momentum toward expanding research on such options. One step on that road was a big meeting on geoengineering science and policy questions at the Asilomar Conference Center in northern California last week. The result is intensifying debate over what is still widely viewed as a last-ditch option should worst-case projections of warming pan out. The questions transcend simple worries about environmental impacts. The biggest, perhaps, could be one of global diplomacy. Who gets to set the Earth’s thermostat? Russia and Maldives would probably have entirely different views.

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