Engineering a solution to climate change

A Looking at the rate of climate change and the disastrous effects it is having on the world.
scientists are concerned that we are acting too slowly. Many are now looking to geoengineering
— large-scale human interventions to change the world's climate — to counteract global
warming. The schemes range from the mundane to science fiction but all come from the same
impulse: if we don't do something now, it may be too late to do anything.

B Climate change is now so rapid that, in the very near future, the Arctic will be ice-free as less
ice forms during winter and more melts in summer. Scientists say that tackling climate change
isn't a problem we need to deal with in 10 or 20 years' time: we need to look at radical solutions
now. A study has shown that the technologies to produce these geoengineering projects already
exist and could be in place for around $5 billion a year. This is a bargain when compared with
the cost of reducing carbon dioxide emissions, a major greenhouse gas: that figure stands at
somewhere between $200 and $2.000 billion.

C So what exactly are scientists planning to do to deal with global warming in the short term?
Among the main schemes are shielding the earth from the sun’s ray either at ground or
atmospheric level, or capturing the carbon produced by industry and sinking it back into the
ground or the sea. Shielding the world has produced ideas that range from simple science to
science fiction. One suggestion has been made to make the roofs of buildings and roads whiter to
reflect the sun’s rays back into space. While this has the advantage of simplicity, it simply won’t
make much difference, reflecting only 0.15 watts per square metre, averaged across the planet.
To put this into perspective, to stop earth warming we need to increase heat lost by about 3.7
watts per square metre averaged over the world. Another idea is to protect the Greenland ice
field by covering it in giant sheets of reflective material. If this works, it could help in the
Antartic where the giant Filchner-Ronne ice shelf is melting rapidly. If this glacier disappears
completely, it would raise sea level, causing catastrophic flood damage around the planet.

D If reflecting heat back from the ground has little effect, there are two alternatives: seeding
clouds and replicating volcanic activity. The first idea is to make clouds whiter by increasing the
amount of rain in them. Sending salt particles into clouds should “seed'” the clouds with more
raindrops. Clouds carrying more raindrops would be whiter and better reflectors of sunlight. This
could be good news for the earth and in addition could be stopped when necessary with the salt
completely clear from the skies within ien years. Unfortunately, other research indicates that
creating whiter clouds may have unwanted side effects, producing adverse weather conditions in
the region and changing mean currents. A much older idea is to replicate the effect volcanoes
have had on the atmosphere. A volcanic eruption sends large amounts of ash and sulphur into the
air, which block the sun and create cooler conditions. For example. when Mount Pinatubo
erupted in 1991, it produced a sulphur dioxide cloud, which reduced average global temperatures
by one degree centigrade. Geoengineers have long put forward the idea at circulating particles of
sulphur in the atmosphere to counteract global warming. The particles would be delivered by
aircraft or balloons spraying them into the atmosphere. However, this also has unpredictable
effects on the amount and pattern of rainfall. Furthermore. this method would delay the recovery
of the ozone layer over the Antartic by 30 to 70 years. More ambitious geoengineering projects
have included placing billions of reflective balloons between the sun and the earth and putting
giant mirrors into orbit. Scientists have criticised these approaches as 'science fiction' and say
they are unlikely to happen due to the huge costs involved.

E Whatever actions we take to block or reflect the heat from the sun, we will still need to reduce
the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Various geoengineering projects have been
proposed to do this. Carbon capture technologies range from planting trees, which naturally use
carbon dioxide as they grow, to pumping carbon back into the earth and trapping it there. This is
a good idea but would only account for about 0.5 watts per square metre. Carbon capture
technologies are already in use at power stations where the greenhouse gas is taken at point of
production and pumped underground into depleted gas and oil reserves. However, the technology
to do this is not very efficient. Other ideas for taking carbon out of the atmosphere include
seeding the oceans with iron. This would increase the growth of plankton which, like trees, use
carbon naturally. Unfortunately, this would only account for 0.2 watts per square metre.

F Proponents of geoengineering have never regarded the earth-changing engineering projects as

a complete solution. Nevertheless, the concept as a whole attracts many criticisms. One is that
the problem of climate change is of such huge scale and complexity that there will not be one
single solutiion. All proposals so far have advantages and disadvantages. The biggest problem of
all is that many of the projects are untested and any of the proposals may have unforeseen
consequences. For example, we could not suddenly stop a geoengineering scheme; keeping
temperatures artificially low for a period then taking away the cause of this would cause the
temperature to rise again rapidly. Furthermore, global engineering solutions to the problem of
climate change would need the agreement of all the world’s leaders; having an American
solution, a Chinese solution. a Brazilian solution. and so on simply wouldn’t be politically
acceptable. But the biggest downfall is that geoengineering projects could reduce the political
and popular pressure for reducing carbon emissions, as polificians point to geoengineering for an
answer rather than tackling the real cause of climate change: human activity.

Questions 29-34
Reading Passage 3 has six paragraphs, A-F. Choose the correct heading for paragraphs A
-F from the list of headings below.
List of Headings
i Shielding the earth from the atmosphere
ii Bouncing back the sun's rays from earth
iii The effect of volcanoes on the atmosphere
iv Criticism of geoengineering
v Trapping greenhouse gases
vi The root of the problem
vii Why attempt geoengineering?
viii Protecting glaciers
ix The need for action

29 Paragraph A
30 Paragraph B
31 Paragraph C
32 Paragraph D
33 Paragraph E
34 Paragraph F

Questions 35-40
Look at the following technical features [Questions 35-40] and the list of technologies below.
Match each technical feature with the correct technology, A, B or C. Write the correct letter, A,
B or C, in boxes 35-40 on your answer sheet.
NB You may use any letter more than once.
35 removes carbon dioxide as soon as it is produced
36 increases the reflectivity of white clouds
37 cleans carbon dioxide from the air naturally
38 would increase the number of small plants and animals in the sea
39 may help prevent rising water levels
40 is similar to the effect volcanoes have on the atmosphere
List of technologies
A land-based reflection
B atmospheric reflection
C carbon capture

29 ix
Looking at the rate of climate change and the disastrous effects it is having on the world.
scientists are concerned that we are acting too slowly.

The schemes range from the mundane to science fiction but all come from the same impulse: if
we don't do something now, it may be too late to do anything.

30 vii

Scientists say that tackling climate change isn't a problem we need to deal with in 10 or 20 years'
time: we need to look at radical solutions now.

A study has shown that the technologies to produce these geoengineering projects already
exist and could be in place for around $5 billion a year. This is a bargain when compared
with the cost of reducing carbon dioxide emissions, a major greenhouse gas: that figure stands
at somewhere between $200 and $2.000 billion.

31 ii

Among the main schemes are shielding the earth from the sun’s ray either at ground or
atmospheric level, or capturing the carbon produced by industry and sinking it back into the
ground or the sea.

One suggestion has been made to make the roofs of buildings and roads whiter to reflect the
sun’s rays back into space.

Another idea is to protect the Greenland ice field by covering it in giant sheets of reflective
material.

If reflecting heat back from the ground has little effect, there are two alternatives...

32 i

If reflecting heat back from the ground has little effect, there are two alternatives: seeding clouds
and replicating volcanic activity.

The first idea is to make clouds whiter by increasing the amount of rain in them.

A much older idea is to replicate the effect volcanoes have had on the atmosphere...
Geoengineers have long put forward the idea at circulating particles of sulphur in the
atmosphere to counteract global warming

33 v

Carbon capture technologies range from planting trees, which naturally use carbon dioxide as
they grow, to pumping carbon back into the earth and trapping it there.
34 iv

Nevertheless, the concept as a whole attracts many criticisms.

One is that the problem of climate change is of such huge scale and complexity that there will
not be one single solutiion.

But the biggest downfall is that geoengineering projects could reduce the political and popular
pressure for reducing carbon emissions, as polificians point to geoengineering for an answer
rather than tackling the real cause of climate change: human activity.

35 C

Carbon capture technologies are already in use at power stations where the greenhouse gas is
taken at point of production and pumped underground into depleted gas and oil reserves.

36 B

Clouds carrying more raindrops would be whiter and better reflectors of sunlight.

37 C

Carbon capture technologies range from planting trees, which naturally use carbon dioxide as
they grow, to pumping carbon back into the earth and trapping it there

38 C

Carbon capture technologies range from planting trees...

This would increase the growth of plankton which, like trees, use carbon naturally.

39 A

If this works, it could help in the Antartic where the giant Filchner-Ronne ice shelf is
melting rapidly. If this glacier disappears completely, it would raise sea level, causing
catastrophic flood damage around the planet.

40 B

A much older idea is to replicate the effect volcanoes have had on the atmosphere.