This comic that I found online ties in with my last posts and the idea of planting trees to offset some of the impacts of climate change:
source: http://www.cartoonmovement.com/cartoon/3058
It holds a rather critical view towards geo-engineering. But is that the overall public opinion? A recently published survey by A M Mercer, D W Keith and J D Sharp (available online) in Environmental Research Letters investigated the public understanding and opinion on geo-engineering, in this case especially on solar radiation management. When reading the results of their survey the first thing that stands out is that, as it seems to me, only a minority of people are familiar with geoengineering methods. While 20% stated that they have heard about geo-engineering before, only ‘8% of the population can correctly describe geoengineering’ (Mercer et al. 2011). According to the survey more people are familiar with the term climate engineering (45% were able to define it). When first asked if geoengineering should be a solution to global warming, respondents could give answers on a four-point scale (‘1 = strongly disagree and 4 = strongly agree’, Mercer et al. 2011). The mean answer was 2.35, which is relatively undecided with tendency towards disagreement. However a quarter of respondents selected unsure, which I think confirms that there is probably a lack of information in general public. While several newspapers or news websites like the Guardian or BBC report about this survey, I think that headlines should be treated with care: According to the survey ‘72% somewhat or strongly support’ (Mercer et al. 2011) allowing research on solar radiation management. In the press and in many headlines or blogs online on the other hand it appears that 72% generally support geoengineering. This again could give a false idea about what is actually said in the study. There are already some strong reactions e.g. this video I found on youtube. It refers to the BBC article from last week.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfIpEl-WKrM
I think it is very important to pronounce statements like this carefully to prevent misunderstanding. It is important to inform the public about what geoengineering methods are and what effects they aim at. As the survey also shows that scientists are considered trustworthier than governments, the source of information could also influence respondents. 64% of respondents supported the statement that ‘humans should not be manipulating nature’ (Mercer et al. 2011) and 2/3 doubt that one technology alone is sufficient to fix the earth’ complicated climate. From my point of view the survey shows that there is still a lack of information in general public, but that the majority of people would support further research – this does not necessarily imply the implementation of geoengineering methods.
So what do you think about geoengineering in general? Is it a solution to our problems? And is it even possible to come to a definite conclusion?
Literature:
A M Mercer, D W Keith and J D Sharp (2011) 'Public understanding of solar radiation management', Environ. Res. Lett., 6
Nice post! If you polled your friends, what would be the outcome?
ReplyDeleteI think that some of them might have heard of geoengineering before, but I doubt that the majority has extensive knowledge of the topic. Depending on what sources they have heard about geoengineering from (e.g. reports in TV or critiques in the news) the coverage could be biased/one-sided. As it is a very complex topic- even when reading more widely about it- I think it is difficult to judge, so I think the public opinion (or in this case the opinions of my friends) depends on their souce of information.
ReplyDeleteI don't know if the majority tends to support geoengineering or reject the ideas of using geoengineering methods, but I think it takes more than a news report to have an informed opinion on the topic.