
The Lure of Climate Entrepreneurism - huihuiilly
https://bostonreview.net/science-nature/troy-vettese-global-warming-market-opportunity
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tito
The book referenced in the review is "After Geoengineering" [1] by Holly Jean
Buck

Interesting premise. _Full disclosure I just noticed I 'm quoted in the book!_

Overview: "Climate engineering is a dystopian project. But as the human
species hurtles ever faster towards its own extinction, geoengineering as a
temporary fix, to buy time for carbon removal, is a seductive idea. We are
right to fear that geoengineering will be used to maintain the status quo, but
is there another possible future after geoengineering? Can these technologies
and practices be used as technologies of repair, to bring carbon levels back
down to pre-industrial levels? Are there possibilities for massive intentional
intervention in the climate that are democratic, decentralized, or
participatory? Is there a scenario where the people can define and enact
geoengineering on our own terms?"

[1] [https://www.amazon.com/After-Geoengineering-Climate-
Tragedy-...](https://www.amazon.com/After-Geoengineering-Climate-Tragedy-
Restoration-
ebook/dp/B07MKX2Y32/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1570565259&sr=8-1)

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tick_tock_tick
We bulldozed past any reasonable hope of solving climate change by reducing
quality of life. The sooner people stop holding on to some misguided hope that
we will somehow all come together and transition to a 100% green society in
the next decade or two the sooner we can start allocating resources to solving
the problem rather than feel good measures.

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moneytide1
"One project funded by the U.S. military aims to grow seaweed—to be used as
food and livestock feed (seaweed-fed cows belch less methane), or burned as
bioenergy—with automated submarine elevators that bring kelp up to the surface
during the day for sunlight and then plunge them to the nutrient-rich ocean
depths at night.'Drone submarines,' Buck explains, 'would tow these kelp farms
to new waters, communicating with harvesters by satellite, which would save
labor costs.' If seaweed bioenergy were paired with CCS to become a BECCS
project—Bio-Energy with Carbon Capture and Storage, the new darling of the
IPCC—it could also reduce atmospheric carbon (by trapping it in kelp biomass).

~~~
todd8
I’ve always felt like there is a missing element in trapping CO2 in biomass
(kelp, trees, etc). Maybe someone can help me here. Doesn’t the dead tree or
dead kelp eventually decompose and eventually though microbial action release
a great deal is the absorbed CO2 back to the atmosphere?

Perhaps we can bury it and keep it out of the atmosphere indefinitely just as
prehistoric forests pulled CO2 out of the prehistoric atmosphere that was
eventually covered and turned into underground hydrocarbons.

Is there a practical way we can do that to lower CO2? I’m sure someone has
looked at that.

~~~
kevinstubbs
Just a programmer, so excuse the lay explanation. My understanding is that the
goal is to get the CO2 effectively locked in a cycle. Trees naturally spread
themselves, obviously, and I would expect the net growth of trees to be > 1
annually (more than 1 new tree grows for every tree that dies, every year).
However even if the rate was < 1 (perhaps in the case where trees only thrive
in the area with human help like.. the Sahara), then at least that CO2 was
sequestered from the air for some years, somewhat alleviating the problem.

If tree decomposition is really a problem, maybe we can automate a carpentry
dystopia. The year is 2080 and there are just chairs and cabinets as far as
the eye can see.

~~~
moneytide1
I wonder why you preface your idea with "just a programmer"? The article talks
about how we are exiting the era of ideas and entering the time for deliberate
and sustained action, and even though "programming" in this context is about
automating computers to do things - we very much will be programming our own
careers and those of future generations to carry on these long term
geoengineering goals.

One example from the article is crushing mountain sized amounts of rock (De
Beers has expressed interest, artificially incentivized by government imposed
carbon credits), so that the increased surface area may absorb CO2 and then be
dropped into the ocean as limestone. This may hold onto CO2 more effectively
and could solve the issue referenced by our parent comment (organic carbon
sequestration structures may dissolve on their own and return to the
atmosphere). Of course, crushing this amount of rock and transporting it would
require enormous amounts of energy...

Vice news did a special years ago about a Chinese "vaccuum" that could absorb
and compress CO2, and the result was hard as rock and could be made into
jewelry. The Wooden skyscraper comes to mind. The home construction industry
would eventually be sequestering carbon using the trees planted a decade or
two prior.

Good point though, I haven't even considered that a trillion trees planted
over the next few years would be nullified if they were allowed to
decompose...

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anonuser123456
Yawn.

Meanwhile the grownups on all sides are calling for a carbon tax.

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thisisbrians
This is a useful essay and I can't disagree with any of the points made, but
I'm afraid it strikes me as over-intellectualized and over-written. The points
being discussed don't demand such dense language or esoteric diction — to the
extent, even, that I think it will turn many would-be readers away. If I had a
free hour maybe I'd write a (much) shorter and more approachable TL;DR, but,
alas...

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olivermarks
An opposing viewpoint in the interests of objectivity
[https://www.amazon.com/Green-Tyranny-Exposing-
Totalitarian-I...](https://www.amazon.com/Green-Tyranny-Exposing-Totalitarian-
Industrial/dp/1594039356)

~~~
artsrc
In the discussing the "acid rain scare" and Scandinavia, the situation with
fish and lakes there is worthwhile understanding. I did a quick google, but my
searching is probably no better than yours:

[https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-94-009-3385-9_...](https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-94-009-3385-9_6)

[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3698327/](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3698327/)

There may or may not be be a story on acidification of lakes in the USA, but I
am ignorant on that.

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whatshisface
This article is confusing me, are conservatives and neoliberals the same?

~~~
bairrd
Fiscally, yes.

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BrainInAJar
SOCIALIST: late capitalism has created a moral rot that pervades our entire
society NEOLIBERAL: but imagine if we monetized the rot

~~~
mikelyons
Spiral dynamics stage GREEN vs stage ORANGE

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todd8
Here's a perfect opportunity for anyone that sees the world through the lens
of Marxism to make a bet on the future. I found the essay full of post-
modernist style of language and consequently difficult for me to interpret as
actionable.

The Obamas don't seem to be investing in the direction suggested by this
essay; they are spending $15 Million on an estate that will be low as 3ft
above sea level according to [1] and [2]. Perhaps someone has a more
authoritative citation on the elevation of their future home.

[1]
[https://www.whatismyelevation.com/location/41.36189,-70.5457...](https://www.whatismyelevation.com/location/41.36189,-70.54573/79-Turkeyland-
Cove-Rd--Edgartown--MA-02539-)

[2]
[https://www.forbes.com/sites/kathleenhowley/2019/09/01/insid...](https://www.forbes.com/sites/kathleenhowley/2019/09/01/inside-
the-obamas-new-marthas-vineyard-estate/#b4f912122869)

