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Comment by quadcore | Hacker News Reader

While possible to build, it's also strictly Temporary

And may, as per the author says, save our asses while we get our shit together.

Now, granted, this is one of the craziest things Ive ever read in my life. And Im being proportionate here.

What's funny is I think it's one of the most rational takes on the current situation that I've ever read. What's crazy is the status quo wherein we are destroying the only ecosystem that can support our civilization. We are already engineering the climate, just not purposefully.

It's just an insanely large and dangerous and global version of setting up a sprinkler or mister to use to cool off when it gets too hot outside.

The magnitudes of the vectors are much much larger, but it's the same dimensions of environmental modification for our own comfort.

We are already not doing much against climate change now, so "get our shit together" is wishful thinking.

This is just another distraction from the list:

- "there is no climate change, let's continue business as usual"

- "there is climate change, but not human-made, let's continue business as usual"

- "there is human-made climate change but it is too late, let's continue business as usual"

- "environmental activists are to blame, let's continue business as usual"

- "maybe we will find magic-technology, let's continue business as usual"

- "geoengineering will buy some time, let's continue business as usual"

I disagree; I think we are doing a lot. We're on track so that renewable sources will provide 1/3 of all electricity generation by 2025. That's quite a massive change, considering how much electricity infrastructure needs to change for that to happen.

The issue is that CO2 emission is so massive that even big changes are a drop in the bucket.

I think there are certain actions that are only insufficient because the trend line isn't steep. Electric car sales go up every year, solar/wind both go up as a % of our energy mix in the west every year. Some amount of geoengineering might allow the current pace of those trends to be 'fast enough'

exactly. we need more time for the trends to mature.

Dude you're discounting things like the fact that solar and wind account for like 44 percent of europe and even in the united states I go driving around and see solar panels everywhere. Like, it's all growing like a weed and going gang busters but still it needs to go even fater sure but buy us time and solar and wind would get even cheaper along with batteries and anyone who tried to advocate for more coal or natural gas would be met with resistance in corporate america as there are cheaper alternatives.

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