

Ep.118: Putting Guardrails On Playing God
7 snips Jul 16, 2025
Cynthia Scharf, a climate advocate and aide to former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, dives into the urgent issues surrounding climate change and the controversial concept of solar geoengineering. With Europe facing devastating heatwaves, Cynthia discusses the ethical dilemmas of potential technologies to cool the planet. She highlights the need for responsible governance and international cooperation in navigating the complex implications of these technologies. Ultimately, she argues for balancing innovative solutions with rigorous emissions reductions to ensure a sustainable future.
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How Solar Geoengineering Works
- Solar geoengineering aims to reflect sunlight back into space by releasing sulfate aerosols into the stratosphere.
- It could cool the Earth within a decade, providing rapid relief from extreme heat unlike other climate tools.
Geoengineering's Unequal Impacts
- Solar geoengineering would impact countries differently, creating winners and losers.
- This raises crucial questions about who gets to control the global thermostat for decades or more.
DIY Geoengineering Experiment
- Some private Silicon Valley groups have conducted DIY geoengineering tests, like releasing sulfur dioxide balloons in Mexico.
- The media attention was huge, but the scientific community found these efforts laughable and unscientific.