Engineering the Climate

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handful of exceptions, most coal-fired power plants have not deployed CCS because of the enormous ex­ pense and energy required to create the solvents to absorb the CO2 from the smokestacks and to pressur­ ize and pipe the supercritical gas underground into a secure geologic formation. Critics have pointed out the dangers of the highly pressurized carbon diox­ ide migrating through the rock fissures and belching out at the surface where it would smother anything breathing at ground level.

Supposedly, the CarbFix project in Iceland has suc­ ceeded in mineralizing carbon pollution from a geo­ thermal power station by pumping it into subterra­ nean volcanic basalt formations. The in situ process took only two years rather than millions, greatly im­ proving on geologic time scales. The major drawbacks to applying this technique on a world scale are the availability of basalt formations, the energy required to transport the carbon dioxide from its source, and the amount of water—25 tons per each ton of CO2— necessary to pipe it into permanent geologic storage. It would require a massive infrastructure.

Then there are always the problems of pipeline ruptures and wellhead blowouts plus the hazards of deep-sea drilling. The more complex the mechanical means, the more things that can go wrong.

Dumping a slurry of iron sulfate into the ocean to increase marine phytoplankton populations has had limited results in drawing down carbon. What has happened in actual trials is that iron fertilization en­ courages a feeding frenzy among the zooplankton grazers, resulting in very little carbon actually being sequestered as dead plankton or fecal matter—ma­ rine snow—in the deep ocean.

Also, there is the danger of undermining the integ­ rity of the food web. Neurotoxic algal blooms can poi­ son fish, shellfish, and marine mammals, and nutri­ ent overloading can deplete oxygen and create dead zones in the world’s seas. Also, methanophilic bacte­ ria could take advantage of the situation and release massive amounts of dimethylsulfide (DMS) into the atmosphere, blocking the sunlight needed for photo­ synthesis.

Because no government is forcing the Big Polluters to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, panicked scien­ tists and politicians say that conventional means of mitigating global warming are not working. There­ fore, we need to resort to more drastic measures, and they are receiving encouragement from wealthy en­ trepreneurs such as Bill Gates, Richard Branson, and Mark Lynas, who are eager to patent every wild, hairbrained scheme coming down the pike. The result is the privatization of global warming mitigation strate­ gies to satisfy their greed. It raises the question of who ultimately controls the thermostat and whether they have the right to imperil the lives of everyone else.

Another reason why we are not winning the struggle to save the climate is the cowardice of the weak, re­ formist environmental groups, who are afraid to chal­ lenge the Carbon Barons head on, so they compromise by promoting electric cars instead of clean mass tran­ sit. Fearing the wrath of Big Auto, the Union of Con­ cerned Scientists has harped endlessly on improved fuel-efficiency standards because it too cannot give up its worship of the internal combustion engine.

For years, the Sierra Club falsely advocated natural gas as a “bridge or transitional fuel” until it was re­ vealed that its leadership had been taking millions in donations from the industry. Even climatologist James Hansen believes in “green nukes” by advocating tho­ rium reactors.

The delusional sci-fi fantasy that human beings can control powerful natural forces is based on the mecha­ nistic view that the Universe is a giant clockwork that can tolerate endless tinkering without consequence. Only the democratic control of science for the benefit of society will allow us to work with Mother Nature instead of against her.

We already have renewable wind and solar technol­ ogies at our disposal, which will enable us to leave the fossil fuels in the ground. Instead, of torching trees for biochar, we should be saving the world’s forests from the logger’s chainsaw. To increase the carbon-stor­ age capacity of Earth’s badly depleted, lifeless soils, organic matter must be recycled to regenerate their health and fertility instead of flushed into the ocean. Organic food production, not genetic monsters and toxic chemicals, will feed the world.

To implement these sustainable measures, we must first get rid of the economic system and the class that puts profits before human and ecological needs. n