Climate One: Remaking the Planet

Thursday, January 28th, 2016 6:30 pm

555 Post Street, San Francisco CA 94102

Increasing droughts, floods and other severe climate-driven events are raising questions about building a planetary panic button. One possible solution is hacking the sky and oceans on a scale unprecedented in human history. Options for geoengineering include a stratospheric veil against the sun, the cultivation of photosynthetic plankton, and fleets of unmanned ships seeding the clouds. That sounds like science fiction, but a small group of scientists and technologists are advocating for funding and testing such far-fetched scenarios in case people can’t kick their addiction to fossil fuels in time to stabilize the climate that supports our economy and lifestyles.

Oliver Morton’s new book, The Planet Remade, explores the promise and peril of tinkering in technologies with profound moral and political implications.

Join us for a conversation about the technological, moral and governance concerns rising from geoengineering and what it means to our relationship to nature.

Event page: Commonwealth Club

Audio recording