Returning home

I'm coming to the end of my journey now, and what a journey it's been.

I set out expecting mine to be an easy task; surely somewhere a way to safely remove carbon dioxide from the air and manage climate change was in development?

But instead, I've been confronted with a whole host of difficult questions and ethical concerns, some of which I've found quite daunting. But, I've learned a lot and I'm taking away some valuable messages from this experience.

Firstly, geoengineering is a serious issue and needs to be treated as such.

Secondly, research is being done and will continue on geoengineering projects. This must be performed in an ethical, responsible way for the safety of our planet.

Thirdly, frameworks for responsible innovation have been developed and must be not only encouraged but enforced within the context of geoengineering research. Some public engagement has already started but there hasn't been nearly enough.

Once a mandatory framework for ethical research is in place, next comes the science.

The most natural forms of geoengineering that I've seen, to me, are the most acceptable. This is an opinion that echoes that voiced in focus groups held so far by Corner et. al. (2013). REDD+ schemes are a no brainer - they reap benefits in ecology and biodiversity as well as reducing atmospheric CO2. The same can be said of afforestation projects, as long as care is taken over where forests are planted so that the reduction in surface albedo does not offset and negative carbon emissions.

Enhanced weathering too seems to have great potential. It deserves more careful study, but I won't be holding my breath for its launch.
 
Lastly, the road to developing enhanced weathering, or any other scheme for that matter, into a safe and acceptable form ready to be deployed is extremely long. But climate change isn't waiting for us. We must not fall into the fatal trap of the moral hazard and rely too much on a techno-fix to solve our problems - it might never come.

Instead, urgent action needs to be taken to prevent dangerous climate change from happening in the first place. That is the most important message of all.