Book discusses geoengineering the earth’s climate

Jeff Goodell, a contributing editor for Rolling Stone, says that it might be possible to manipulate the earth’s climate on a large-scale, something called geoengineering. In an interview with NPR, he notes the possibilities of building machines to pump carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere or air-dropping particles into the atmosphere to reflect light away from the planet.

Some of those methods could cool things down, but their effects globally aren’t assured. If something is good for one hemisphere, it might not be good for another and squabbles between governments could become an issue when determining “whose hand is on the thermostat,” Goodell says.

Goodell’s examples come from a book he’s written on the subject, in which he uses expert opinions to discuss solutions to the earth’s climate issues.