Engineering the Climate

Christopher J. Preston is an Associate Professor of Environmental Ethics at the University of Montana. He is the author of Saving Creation: Nature and Faith in the Life of Holmes Rolston, III (Trinity University Press, 2009) and Grounding Knowledge: Environmental Philosophy, Epistemology, and Place (University of Georgia Press, 2003), an edited collection of essays titled Nature Value, and Duty: Life on Earth with Holmes Rolston, III (Springer, 2007), and a special issue of the journal Ethics and the Environment on the “Epistemic Significance of Place.”

This well-written, well-edited work makes the assumption that solar radiation management (SRM) would be accomplished by putting reflective aerosols into the atmosphere since the world is not doing much to alleviate global warming in other ways. However, the book is not primarily concerned with the actual method. Contributors recognize that scientists will have difficulty predicting the effects (e.g., local climate changes) of SRM. They cover various issues, such as the fact that using SRM may prevent people from taking firm measures to control CO2 emissions. Authors also explore the ramifications for future generations, who will probably need to continue the practice of SRM; the importance of involving poor and marginalized peoples in decisions about SRM; and effects on nonhuman species. In addition, the book includes chapters suggesting that SRM might be used to help solve other social problems, rather than causing new ones, and that it is foolish to deal with the moral choices involved in using SRM without considering people's religion and other matters. This is a wide-ranging and important book, apparently the only one on the subject--scholarly, but accessible to intelligent readers who are not geoengineers or ethicists. Good index and excellent scholarly apparatus. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All readership levels.

• Introduction: The Extraordinary Ethics of Solar Radiation ManagementChristopher J. PrestonPart I. Present and Future GenerationsChapter 1: Geoengineering, Solidarity, and Moral RiskMarion HourdequinChapter 2: Might Solar Radiation Management Constitute a Dilemma? Konrad OttChapter 3: Domination and the Ethics of Solar Radiation ManagementPatrick Taylor SmithPart II. Marginalized, Vulnerable, and Voiceless PopulationsChapter 4:Indigenous Peoples, Solar Radiation Management, and ConsentKyle Powys WhyteChapter 5: Solar Radiation Management and Vulnerable Populations: The Moral Deficit and its ProspectsChristopher J. PrestonChapter 6: Solar Radiation Management and Non-human SpeciesRonald SandlerPart III. Moral Hazards and Hidden BenefitsChapter 7: The World That Would Have Been: Moral Hazard Arguments Against GeoengineeringBen HaleChapter 8: Climate Remediation to Address Social Development Challenges: Going Beyond Cost Benefit and Risk Approaches to Assessing Solar Radiation ManagementHolly Jean BuckPart IV. Ethics of Framing and RhetoricChapter 9: Insurance Policy or Technological Fix: The Ethical Implications of Framing Solar Radiation ManagementDane ScottChapter 10: Public Concerns About the Ethics of Solar Radiation ManagementWylie Carr, Ashley Mercer, and Clare PalmerPart V. The Cultural MilieuChapter 11: The Setting of the Scene: Technological Fixes and the Design of the Good LifeAlbert BorgmannChapter 12: Between Babel and Pelagius: Religion, Theology, and GeoengineeringForrest ClingermanChapter 13: Making Climates: Solar Radiation Management and the Ethics of Fabrication” by Maia Galarraga and Bronislaw Szerszynski