LETTER: Geoengineering and global warming
Your editorial regarding those who object to geoengineering solutions to global warming was on the mark (Saturday’s Review-Journal). These projects might help reduce atmospheric temperatures and the amount of Earth warming. However, there is an abundance of questions about these types of solutions.
We do know with assurance that putting certain gasses into the atmosphere increases the amount of global warming. Methane is reported to be 80 times as efficient as carbon dioxide for the first 20 years. It also contributes 25 percent of man-made global warming. CO2 is reported to last in the atmosphere between 300 and 1,000 years.
We know that methane is being released from earthen sources such as tundra and permafrost as the Earth warms. We also know that the burning of fossil fuels is the greatest contributor to climate warming. Removing CO2 from the atmosphere isn’t a solution. To reduce the atmospheric content of CO2 to 300 parts per million, the high for pre-industrial levels, we would need to remove 665.5 billion tons while adding 35 billion tons annually.
If we continue adding CO2 to the atmosphere, no amount of geoengineering will be able to keep up until all sunlight is blocked. We must cease generating CO2 and methane.