Frédéric Neyrat
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- May 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780823282586
- eISBN:
- 9780823284931
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fordham/9780823282586.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Science
The Space Age is over? Not at all! A new planet has appeared: Earth. In the age of the Anthropocene, the Earth is a post-natural planet that can be remade at will, controlled and managed thanks to ...
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The Space Age is over? Not at all! A new planet has appeared: Earth. In the age of the Anthropocene, the Earth is a post-natural planet that can be remade at will, controlled and managed thanks to the prowess of geoengineering. This new imaginary is also accompanied by a new kind of power—geopower—which takes the entire Earth—in its social, biological and geophysical dimensions—as an object of knowledge, intervention, and governmentality. Far from merely being the fruit of the spirit of geo-capitalism, this new grand narrative has been championed by the theorists of the constructivist turn (be them ecomodernist, postenvironmentalist, or accelerationist to name a few) who have also called into question the great divide between nature and culture; but in the aftermath of the collapse of this divide, a cyborg, hybrid, flexible nature was built, an impoverished nature that does not exist without being performed by the technologies, human needs, and capitalist imperatives. Underneath this performative vision resides a hidden “a-naturalism” denying all otherness to nature and the Earth, no longer by externalizing it as a thing to be dominated, but by radically internalizing it as something to be digested. Constructivist ecology can hardly present itself in opposition to the geo-constructivist project, which also claims that there is no nature and that nothing will prevent human beings from replacing Earth with an Earth 2.0.Less
The Space Age is over? Not at all! A new planet has appeared: Earth. In the age of the Anthropocene, the Earth is a post-natural planet that can be remade at will, controlled and managed thanks to the prowess of geoengineering. This new imaginary is also accompanied by a new kind of power—geopower—which takes the entire Earth—in its social, biological and geophysical dimensions—as an object of knowledge, intervention, and governmentality. Far from merely being the fruit of the spirit of geo-capitalism, this new grand narrative has been championed by the theorists of the constructivist turn (be them ecomodernist, postenvironmentalist, or accelerationist to name a few) who have also called into question the great divide between nature and culture; but in the aftermath of the collapse of this divide, a cyborg, hybrid, flexible nature was built, an impoverished nature that does not exist without being performed by the technologies, human needs, and capitalist imperatives. Underneath this performative vision resides a hidden “a-naturalism” denying all otherness to nature and the Earth, no longer by externalizing it as a thing to be dominated, but by radically internalizing it as something to be digested. Constructivist ecology can hardly present itself in opposition to the geo-constructivist project, which also claims that there is no nature and that nothing will prevent human beings from replacing Earth with an Earth 2.0.
David M. Kaplan (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- September 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780262035668
- eISBN:
- 9780262337991
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262035668.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, General
Environmental philosophy and philosophy of technology have taken divergent paths despite their common interest in examining human modification of the natural world. Yet philosophers from each field ...
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Environmental philosophy and philosophy of technology have taken divergent paths despite their common interest in examining human modification of the natural world. Yet philosophers from each field have a lot to contribute to the other. Environmental issues inevitably involve technologies, and technologies inevitably have environmental impacts. In this book, prominent scholars from both fields illuminate the intersections of environmental philosophy and philosophy of technology, offering the beginnings of a rich new hybrid discourse. All the contributors share the intuition that technology and the environment overlap in ways that are relevant in both philosophical and practical terms. They consider such issues as the limits of technological interventions in the natural world, whether a concern for the environment can be designed into things, how consumerism relates us to artifacts and environments, and how food and animal agriculture raise questions about both culture and nature. They discuss, among other topics, the pessimism and dystopianism shared by environmentalists, environmental philosophers, and philosophers of technology; the ethics of geoengineering and climate change; the biological analogy at the heart of industrial ecology; green products and sustainable design; and agriculture as a bridge between technology and the environment.Less
Environmental philosophy and philosophy of technology have taken divergent paths despite their common interest in examining human modification of the natural world. Yet philosophers from each field have a lot to contribute to the other. Environmental issues inevitably involve technologies, and technologies inevitably have environmental impacts. In this book, prominent scholars from both fields illuminate the intersections of environmental philosophy and philosophy of technology, offering the beginnings of a rich new hybrid discourse. All the contributors share the intuition that technology and the environment overlap in ways that are relevant in both philosophical and practical terms. They consider such issues as the limits of technological interventions in the natural world, whether a concern for the environment can be designed into things, how consumerism relates us to artifacts and environments, and how food and animal agriculture raise questions about both culture and nature. They discuss, among other topics, the pessimism and dystopianism shared by environmentalists, environmental philosophers, and philosophers of technology; the ethics of geoengineering and climate change; the biological analogy at the heart of industrial ecology; green products and sustainable design; and agriculture as a bridge between technology and the environment.
Chris Pak
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- January 2019
- ISBN:
- 9781781382844
- eISBN:
- 9781786945426
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Liverpool University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5949/liverpool/9781781382844.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Criticism/Theory
This book explores the emergence and development of terraforming in science fiction from H.G. Wells’s The War of the Worlds (1898) to James Cameron’s blockbuster Avatar (2009). Terraforming is the ...
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This book explores the emergence and development of terraforming in science fiction from H.G. Wells’s The War of the Worlds (1898) to James Cameron’s blockbuster Avatar (2009). Terraforming is the process of making other worlds habitable for human life. Its counterpart on Earth—geoengineering—has been positioned as a possible means of addressing the effects of climate change. This book asks how science fiction has imagined the ways we shape both our world and other planets and how stories of terraforming reflect on science, society and environmentalism. It traces the growth of the motif of terraforming in stories by such writers as H.G. Wells and Olaf Stapledon in the UK, American pulp science fiction by Ray Bradbury, Robert Heinlein and Arthur C. Clarke, the counter cultural novels of Frank Herbert, Ursula K. Le Guin and Ernest Callenbach, and Pamela Sargent’s Venus trilogy, Frederick Turner’s epic poem of terraforming, Genesis, and Kim Stanley Robinson’s acclaimed Mars trilogy. It explores terraforming as a nexus for environmental philosophy, the pastoral, ecology, the Gaia hypothesis, the politics of colonisation and habitation, tradition and memory. This book shows how contemporary environmental awareness and our understanding of climate change is influenced by science fiction, and how terraforming in particular has offered scientists, philosophers, and many other readers a motif to think in complex ways about the human impact on planetary environments. Amidst contemporary anxieties about climate change, terraforming offers an important vantage from which to consider the ways humankind shapes and is shaped by their world.Less
This book explores the emergence and development of terraforming in science fiction from H.G. Wells’s The War of the Worlds (1898) to James Cameron’s blockbuster Avatar (2009). Terraforming is the process of making other worlds habitable for human life. Its counterpart on Earth—geoengineering—has been positioned as a possible means of addressing the effects of climate change. This book asks how science fiction has imagined the ways we shape both our world and other planets and how stories of terraforming reflect on science, society and environmentalism. It traces the growth of the motif of terraforming in stories by such writers as H.G. Wells and Olaf Stapledon in the UK, American pulp science fiction by Ray Bradbury, Robert Heinlein and Arthur C. Clarke, the counter cultural novels of Frank Herbert, Ursula K. Le Guin and Ernest Callenbach, and Pamela Sargent’s Venus trilogy, Frederick Turner’s epic poem of terraforming, Genesis, and Kim Stanley Robinson’s acclaimed Mars trilogy. It explores terraforming as a nexus for environmental philosophy, the pastoral, ecology, the Gaia hypothesis, the politics of colonisation and habitation, tradition and memory. This book shows how contemporary environmental awareness and our understanding of climate change is influenced by science fiction, and how terraforming in particular has offered scientists, philosophers, and many other readers a motif to think in complex ways about the human impact on planetary environments. Amidst contemporary anxieties about climate change, terraforming offers an important vantage from which to consider the ways humankind shapes and is shaped by their world.
Han Dolman
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- June 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780198779308
- eISBN:
- 9780191824388
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198779308.003.0014
- Subject:
- Physics, Geophysics, Atmospheric and Environmental Physics
Humans have dramatically changed Earth’s environment, on the land, in the ocean and in the atmosphere. The rate of change of these perturbations in the Anthropocene is unlike any in our geological ...
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Humans have dramatically changed Earth’s environment, on the land, in the ocean and in the atmosphere. The rate of change of these perturbations in the Anthropocene is unlike any in our geological past. This also means humans need to develop plans to counter the most severe effects. Geoengineering is probably the best example of the search for a solution to such a self-created problem. However, a long-term solution most likely requires a shift in our thinking towards sustainable development, putting environmental cost before capital gains and developing a more cyclic economy. This requires changes in the way we define and perceive the interaction between the biogeochemistry of Earth system and our own economies.Less
Humans have dramatically changed Earth’s environment, on the land, in the ocean and in the atmosphere. The rate of change of these perturbations in the Anthropocene is unlike any in our geological past. This also means humans need to develop plans to counter the most severe effects. Geoengineering is probably the best example of the search for a solution to such a self-created problem. However, a long-term solution most likely requires a shift in our thinking towards sustainable development, putting environmental cost before capital gains and developing a more cyclic economy. This requires changes in the way we define and perceive the interaction between the biogeochemistry of Earth system and our own economies.
David G. Victor
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- April 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780199573288
- eISBN:
- 9780191808616
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:osobl/9780199573288.003.0016
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Development, Growth, and Environmental
This chapter examines the role of geoengineering in the mitigation of climate change. It begins with an overview of the state of geoengineering science before turning to the politics of ...
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This chapter examines the role of geoengineering in the mitigation of climate change. It begins with an overview of the state of geoengineering science before turning to the politics of geoengineering, with particular emphasis on scientific assessment and regulation and the need for regulatory treaties. It argues that norms to govern deployment of geoengineering systems are necessary, which might arise through intensive research organised by the academies of sciences in key countries.Less
This chapter examines the role of geoengineering in the mitigation of climate change. It begins with an overview of the state of geoengineering science before turning to the politics of geoengineering, with particular emphasis on scientific assessment and regulation and the need for regulatory treaties. It argues that norms to govern deployment of geoengineering systems are necessary, which might arise through intensive research organised by the academies of sciences in key countries.
Allen Thompson and Jeremy Bendik-Keymer (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- August 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780262017534
- eISBN:
- 9780262301541
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262017534.001.0001
- Subject:
- Environmental Science, Climate
Predictions about global climate change have produced both stark scenarios of environmental catastrophe and purportedly pragmatic ideas about adaptation. This book takes a different perspective, ...
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Predictions about global climate change have produced both stark scenarios of environmental catastrophe and purportedly pragmatic ideas about adaptation. This book takes a different perspective, exploring the idea that the challenge of adapting to global climate change is fundamentally an ethical one, that it is not simply a matter of adapting our infrastructures and economies to mitigate damage but rather of adapting ourselves to realities of a new global climate. The challenge is to restore our conception of humanity—to understand human flourishing in new ways—in an age in which humanity shapes the basic conditions of the global environment. In the face of what we have unintentionally done to Earth’s ecology, who shall we become? The contributors examine ways that new realities will require us to revisit and adjust the practice of ecological restoration; the place of ecology in our conception of justice; the form and substance of traditional virtues and vices; and the organizations, scale, and underlying metaphors of important institutions. Topics discussed include historical fidelity in ecological restoration; the application of capability theory to ecology; the questionable ethics of geoengineering; and the cognitive transformation required if we are to “think like a planet.”Less
Predictions about global climate change have produced both stark scenarios of environmental catastrophe and purportedly pragmatic ideas about adaptation. This book takes a different perspective, exploring the idea that the challenge of adapting to global climate change is fundamentally an ethical one, that it is not simply a matter of adapting our infrastructures and economies to mitigate damage but rather of adapting ourselves to realities of a new global climate. The challenge is to restore our conception of humanity—to understand human flourishing in new ways—in an age in which humanity shapes the basic conditions of the global environment. In the face of what we have unintentionally done to Earth’s ecology, who shall we become? The contributors examine ways that new realities will require us to revisit and adjust the practice of ecological restoration; the place of ecology in our conception of justice; the form and substance of traditional virtues and vices; and the organizations, scale, and underlying metaphors of important institutions. Topics discussed include historical fidelity in ecological restoration; the application of capability theory to ecology; the questionable ethics of geoengineering; and the cognitive transformation required if we are to “think like a planet.”
Benjamin Hale
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- September 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780262035408
- eISBN:
- 9780262336499
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262035408.003.0007
- Subject:
- History, History of Science, Technology, and Medicine
This chapter addresses different sorts of justificatory reasons – consequentialist and nonconsequentialist – with the objective of demonstrating how consequentialist reasoning has permeated the ...
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This chapter addresses different sorts of justificatory reasons – consequentialist and nonconsequentialist – with the objective of demonstrating how consequentialist reasoning has permeated the environmental discourse. It uses the cases of geoengineering and vaccination (from in imaginary deadly illness – the Schmoo) to illustrate how ethical orientations toward the good often come up short when seeking to justify complicated interventions that encroach on human lives.Less
This chapter addresses different sorts of justificatory reasons – consequentialist and nonconsequentialist – with the objective of demonstrating how consequentialist reasoning has permeated the environmental discourse. It uses the cases of geoengineering and vaccination (from in imaginary deadly illness – the Schmoo) to illustrate how ethical orientations toward the good often come up short when seeking to justify complicated interventions that encroach on human lives.
Clare Heyward, Steve Rayner, and Julian Savulescu
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- September 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780262035668
- eISBN:
- 9780262337991
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262035668.003.0007
- Subject:
- Philosophy, General
Clare Heyward, and Steve Rayner, and Julian Savulescu examine the legitimacy and social control over the research, development and eventual deployment of geo-engineering to reduce human caused ...
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Clare Heyward, and Steve Rayner, and Julian Savulescu examine the legitimacy and social control over the research, development and eventual deployment of geo-engineering to reduce human caused climate change. They believe that it is permissible in principle but all geo-engineering R&D should be subject to some sort of governance given its potential to affect everyone in the world. They defend the Oxford Principles of ethical-political decision-making principles. 1) Geo-engineering is in the public interest and should be regulated as a public good; 2) there should be public participation in geo-engineering decision-making; 3) geo-engineering research should be transparent and available to the public; 4) risk assessments should be conducted by independent bodies, and be directed toward both the environmental and socio-economic impacts of research and deployment; and 5) the legal, social, and ethical implications of geo-engineering should be addressed before a project is undertaken or technology deployed. The authors then compare the Oxford Principles favorably the three main alternative models that guide geoengineering development. They argue that it has a greater scope of application than the alternatives and better lend themselves to action-guiding recommendations and regulations, appropriate to different technologies -- while preserving longstanding environmental and political values.Less
Clare Heyward, and Steve Rayner, and Julian Savulescu examine the legitimacy and social control over the research, development and eventual deployment of geo-engineering to reduce human caused climate change. They believe that it is permissible in principle but all geo-engineering R&D should be subject to some sort of governance given its potential to affect everyone in the world. They defend the Oxford Principles of ethical-political decision-making principles. 1) Geo-engineering is in the public interest and should be regulated as a public good; 2) there should be public participation in geo-engineering decision-making; 3) geo-engineering research should be transparent and available to the public; 4) risk assessments should be conducted by independent bodies, and be directed toward both the environmental and socio-economic impacts of research and deployment; and 5) the legal, social, and ethical implications of geo-engineering should be addressed before a project is undertaken or technology deployed. The authors then compare the Oxford Principles favorably the three main alternative models that guide geoengineering development. They argue that it has a greater scope of application than the alternatives and better lend themselves to action-guiding recommendations and regulations, appropriate to different technologies -- while preserving longstanding environmental and political values.
Stephen M. Gardiner
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- August 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780262017534
- eISBN:
- 9780262301541
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262017534.003.0013
- Subject:
- Environmental Science, Climate
The chapter focuses on climate change in general and geoengineering in particular. It explains who we are in the context of ethical complaints about our understanding of global environmental change. ...
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The chapter focuses on climate change in general and geoengineering in particular. It explains who we are in the context of ethical complaints about our understanding of global environmental change. The chapter also considers some categories of negative ethical appraisal to which failure makes humanity susceptible, including those involving tarnishing, marring, and blighting evils.Less
The chapter focuses on climate change in general and geoengineering in particular. It explains who we are in the context of ethical complaints about our understanding of global environmental change. The chapter also considers some categories of negative ethical appraisal to which failure makes humanity susceptible, including those involving tarnishing, marring, and blighting evils.
Adriana Petryna
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- January 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780226257075
- eISBN:
- 9780226257242
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226257242.003.0009
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Anthropology, Global
This essay analyzes the shift from incremental to exponential accelerations in atmospheric CO2 and its implications for the science and governance of climate change. It examines some of the models ...
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This essay analyzes the shift from incremental to exponential accelerations in atmospheric CO2 and its implications for the science and governance of climate change. It examines some of the models and tools that scientists are developing to address and manage environmental uncertainty, as well as their emerging forms of scientific monitoring of increasingly unpredictable ecosystemic behaviors. A central question concerns how such sciences contribute to prospective thinking about how natural systems and societal infrastructures might adapt to imminent ecological dangers linked to climate change. The essay shows how a scientific predication toward ecosystemic “tipping points” has ushered in a new kind of intellectual labor, a horizoning work, involving the construction of empirical tools and appropriate “scaling rules” for recognizing and keeping a “safe distance” from unsafe ecosystemic thresholds. Here the notion of horizon acts as a kind of contemporary equipment for managing and sometimes mitigating complex futures. The horizon also sets a stage for contemplating relations between nonparametric realities and a social science of survival. With a public increasingly enamored with magic bullet solutions to the problem of climate change, the essay’s conclusion explores alternative frameworks of prevention and biomanipulation as antidotes to intensifying pressures to geoengineer.Less
This essay analyzes the shift from incremental to exponential accelerations in atmospheric CO2 and its implications for the science and governance of climate change. It examines some of the models and tools that scientists are developing to address and manage environmental uncertainty, as well as their emerging forms of scientific monitoring of increasingly unpredictable ecosystemic behaviors. A central question concerns how such sciences contribute to prospective thinking about how natural systems and societal infrastructures might adapt to imminent ecological dangers linked to climate change. The essay shows how a scientific predication toward ecosystemic “tipping points” has ushered in a new kind of intellectual labor, a horizoning work, involving the construction of empirical tools and appropriate “scaling rules” for recognizing and keeping a “safe distance” from unsafe ecosystemic thresholds. Here the notion of horizon acts as a kind of contemporary equipment for managing and sometimes mitigating complex futures. The horizon also sets a stage for contemplating relations between nonparametric realities and a social science of survival. With a public increasingly enamored with magic bullet solutions to the problem of climate change, the essay’s conclusion explores alternative frameworks of prevention and biomanipulation as antidotes to intensifying pressures to geoengineer.
Simon Nicholson
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- August 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780262014366
- eISBN:
- 9780262289603
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262014366.003.0114
- Subject:
- Political Science, Environmental Politics
In the contemporary discourse of sacrifice in the context of climate change and environmental sustainability, geoengineering is believed to be a technology-based means to change and control a climate ...
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In the contemporary discourse of sacrifice in the context of climate change and environmental sustainability, geoengineering is believed to be a technology-based means to change and control a climate system. Geoengineering is getting attention and consideration worldwide from media outlets, commentators, and policymakers. The author explains that a technological development like geoengineering is a sacrifice-free form of action that fixes environmental concerns and reduces the burden. The author further discusses three hidden technological sacrifices: material, political, and existential.Less
In the contemporary discourse of sacrifice in the context of climate change and environmental sustainability, geoengineering is believed to be a technology-based means to change and control a climate system. Geoengineering is getting attention and consideration worldwide from media outlets, commentators, and policymakers. The author explains that a technological development like geoengineering is a sacrifice-free form of action that fixes environmental concerns and reduces the burden. The author further discusses three hidden technological sacrifices: material, political, and existential.
Chris Pak
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- January 2019
- ISBN:
- 9781781382844
- eISBN:
- 9781786945426
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Liverpool University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5949/liverpool/9781781382844.003.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Criticism/Theory
Beginning with the coining of “terraforming” by science fiction writer Jack Williamson, this chapter explores the boundaries of the term in scientific discourse and in fiction, focusing attention on ...
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Beginning with the coining of “terraforming” by science fiction writer Jack Williamson, this chapter explores the boundaries of the term in scientific discourse and in fiction, focusing attention on its significance for stories of interplanetary colonisation. It compares terraforming with its Earthbound counterpart, geoengineering, thus highlighting how science fiction explores modes of relating to Earth’s environment. It introduces James Lovelock’s Gaia hypothesis and explains its significance for terraforming, and explores the nature of science fiction’s environmental engagement and its intersections with ecocritical concerns. It also introduces the concept of nature’s otherness and of landscaping, and connects the latter to Bakhtin’s chronotope, thus delineating an analytical framework for exploring how space and time is invested with human value and meaning in science fictional narratives.Less
Beginning with the coining of “terraforming” by science fiction writer Jack Williamson, this chapter explores the boundaries of the term in scientific discourse and in fiction, focusing attention on its significance for stories of interplanetary colonisation. It compares terraforming with its Earthbound counterpart, geoengineering, thus highlighting how science fiction explores modes of relating to Earth’s environment. It introduces James Lovelock’s Gaia hypothesis and explains its significance for terraforming, and explores the nature of science fiction’s environmental engagement and its intersections with ecocritical concerns. It also introduces the concept of nature’s otherness and of landscaping, and connects the latter to Bakhtin’s chronotope, thus delineating an analytical framework for exploring how space and time is invested with human value and meaning in science fictional narratives.
Chris Pak
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- January 2019
- ISBN:
- 9781781382844
- eISBN:
- 9781786945426
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Liverpool University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5949/liverpool/9781781382844.003.0007
- Subject:
- Literature, Criticism/Theory
Paying special attention to the role of landscaping, Bakhtinian dialogism, the science fictional megatext, pastoral and utopian discourse, ecology and environmentalism, the conclusion to Terraforming ...
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Paying special attention to the role of landscaping, Bakhtinian dialogism, the science fictional megatext, pastoral and utopian discourse, ecology and environmentalism, the conclusion to Terraforming considers how the terraforming motif provides a point of convergence for all these dynamics and discourses. The main part of this section reflects on the terraforming narratives that have been published during and after the mid-1990s and suggests many fruitful avenues for further research into terraforming. Ultimately, this section argues that terraforming demonstrates the tendency for science fiction to operate as a literature of landscaping, an environmental literature that examines the importance of the world in the light of contemporary technological innovation and intervention into nature.Less
Paying special attention to the role of landscaping, Bakhtinian dialogism, the science fictional megatext, pastoral and utopian discourse, ecology and environmentalism, the conclusion to Terraforming considers how the terraforming motif provides a point of convergence for all these dynamics and discourses. The main part of this section reflects on the terraforming narratives that have been published during and after the mid-1990s and suggests many fruitful avenues for further research into terraforming. Ultimately, this section argues that terraforming demonstrates the tendency for science fiction to operate as a literature of landscaping, an environmental literature that examines the importance of the world in the light of contemporary technological innovation and intervention into nature.
Kristine C. Harper
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- September 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780226437231
- eISBN:
- 9780226437378
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226437378.003.0011
- Subject:
- History, History of Science, Technology, and Medicine
The conclusion argues that weather control and the American state grew in tandem during the twentieth century and that weather control was different from other state controls of nature because ...
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The conclusion argues that weather control and the American state grew in tandem during the twentieth century and that weather control was different from other state controls of nature because modifying the atmosphere affects everything downstream, not just a large patch of land. In contrast, even large dam and levee projects are essentially local. But now the effects of climate change add a new level of interest to humans’ desires to choose their environmental conditions. Geoengineering techniques, including carbon sequestration and reflecting sunlight back into space, are on a much larger scale than any weather control attempts. They would also be subject to global, not state, control, which makes them less likely, though not impossible. Depending on where they live, people will probably be clamoring, however, for more or less water, and that is within the capability of current weather control techniques, which have always been about water. Weather control may have lost its luster as a state tool in the 1970s, but that does not mean it is gone for good. Lessons learned from those earlier attempts could be key to future fresh water supplies.Less
The conclusion argues that weather control and the American state grew in tandem during the twentieth century and that weather control was different from other state controls of nature because modifying the atmosphere affects everything downstream, not just a large patch of land. In contrast, even large dam and levee projects are essentially local. But now the effects of climate change add a new level of interest to humans’ desires to choose their environmental conditions. Geoengineering techniques, including carbon sequestration and reflecting sunlight back into space, are on a much larger scale than any weather control attempts. They would also be subject to global, not state, control, which makes them less likely, though not impossible. Depending on where they live, people will probably be clamoring, however, for more or less water, and that is within the capability of current weather control techniques, which have always been about water. Weather control may have lost its luster as a state tool in the 1970s, but that does not mean it is gone for good. Lessons learned from those earlier attempts could be key to future fresh water supplies.
Olle Häggström
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- January 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780198723547
- eISBN:
- 9780191790331
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198723547.003.0002
- Subject:
- Mathematics, Logic / Computer Science / Mathematical Philosophy
Our planet and its biosphere will remain our home, until the day (if it ever comes) when we emigrate into outer space or virtual realities. Human activities are altering this environment in ...
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Our planet and its biosphere will remain our home, until the day (if it ever comes) when we emigrate into outer space or virtual realities. Human activities are altering this environment in unintended and misbegotten ways, which may harm our prospects for a prosperous future. This chapter focuses mainly on the climate crisis and on various radical proposals for fixing it, including the dangerous geoengineering idea of pumping sulfur into the stratosphere to block out some of the sunlight. Artificial removal of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere is possibly a better idea, because it attacks the problem at its roots rather than just the symptoms, but it is not clear how we can implement it.Less
Our planet and its biosphere will remain our home, until the day (if it ever comes) when we emigrate into outer space or virtual realities. Human activities are altering this environment in unintended and misbegotten ways, which may harm our prospects for a prosperous future. This chapter focuses mainly on the climate crisis and on various radical proposals for fixing it, including the dangerous geoengineering idea of pumping sulfur into the stratosphere to block out some of the sunlight. Artificial removal of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere is possibly a better idea, because it attacks the problem at its roots rather than just the symptoms, but it is not clear how we can implement it.
Meinhard Doelle
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- January 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780199368747
- eISBN:
- 9780199368761
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199368747.003.0017
- Subject:
- Law, Environmental and Energy Law, Public International Law
This chapter considers the potential for tensions between the United Natesion Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) regimes ...
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This chapter considers the potential for tensions between the United Natesion Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) regimes relating to disputes at the intersection of climate change and ocean governance, using geoengineering as a case study. The chapter explores the substantive commitments relevant to geoengineering and existing dispute resolutions mechanisms under the two regimes. It considers where tension, conflict, and overlap may arise, and how they may be resolved in various forums, such as the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) and the International Court of Justice (ICJ). The discussion includes description of particular geoengineering methods, including direct carbon dioxide removal (CDR), and solar radiation management (SRM).Less
This chapter considers the potential for tensions between the United Natesion Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) regimes relating to disputes at the intersection of climate change and ocean governance, using geoengineering as a case study. The chapter explores the substantive commitments relevant to geoengineering and existing dispute resolutions mechanisms under the two regimes. It considers where tension, conflict, and overlap may arise, and how they may be resolved in various forums, such as the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) and the International Court of Justice (ICJ). The discussion includes description of particular geoengineering methods, including direct carbon dioxide removal (CDR), and solar radiation management (SRM).
Bettina Boschen
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- January 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780199368747
- eISBN:
- 9780199368761
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199368747.003.0018
- Subject:
- Law, Environmental and Energy Law, Public International Law
This chapter focuses on international law and the regulation of marine geoengineering. Specifically, it provides an account of the international political and legal responses to ocean iron ...
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This chapter focuses on international law and the regulation of marine geoengineering. Specifically, it provides an account of the international political and legal responses to ocean iron fertilization activities on the high seas, that have led to the establishment of international control over activities that intend to manipulate the marine environment, for the purposes of combatting the effects of climate change. The chapter provides a brief background on geoengineering and clarifies the meaning of the term as well as the different strategies comprised by this concept, including ocean iron fertilization. Following an outline of the challenges posed by the absence of an international regulatory system and the limits of the international legal framework relevant to ocean iron fertilization experiments, the chapter provides an analysis of the amendment to the 1996 Protocol to the London Convention, which establishes a global and transparent regulatory mechanism for ocean iron fertilization and other marine geoengineering activities.Less
This chapter focuses on international law and the regulation of marine geoengineering. Specifically, it provides an account of the international political and legal responses to ocean iron fertilization activities on the high seas, that have led to the establishment of international control over activities that intend to manipulate the marine environment, for the purposes of combatting the effects of climate change. The chapter provides a brief background on geoengineering and clarifies the meaning of the term as well as the different strategies comprised by this concept, including ocean iron fertilization. Following an outline of the challenges posed by the absence of an international regulatory system and the limits of the international legal framework relevant to ocean iron fertilization experiments, the chapter provides an analysis of the amendment to the 1996 Protocol to the London Convention, which establishes a global and transparent regulatory mechanism for ocean iron fertilization and other marine geoengineering activities.
Dieter Helm and Cameron Hepburn (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- April 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780199573288
- eISBN:
- 9780191808616
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:osobl/9780199573288.001.0001
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Development, Growth, and Environmental
The international framework for a climate change agreement is up for review as the initial Kyoto Protocol period to 2012 comes to an end. Though there has been much enthusiasm from political and ...
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The international framework for a climate change agreement is up for review as the initial Kyoto Protocol period to 2012 comes to an end. Though there has been much enthusiasm from political and environmental groups, the underlying economics and politics remain highly controversial. This book takes a cool-headed look at the critical roadblocks to agreement, examining the economics of climate change, the incentives of the main players (the United States, EU, China), and the policies which governments can put in place to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and ultimately shift our economies onto a low-carbon path. It questions the basis of much of the climate change consensus and debates the Stern Review's main findings. Aside from a reassessment of the economics of climate change, the book looks at the geography of the costs and benefits of climate change — the very different perspectives of Africa, China, Europe, and the United States — as well as the prospects for a new global agreement. It also considers policy instruments at the global level (whereas much of the literature to date is nationally and regionally based). Trading and R&D, along with more radical unilateral options, including geoengineering, are discussed. Finally, the book describes the institutional architecture — drawing on evidence from previous attempts in other areas, as well as proposals for new bodies.Less
The international framework for a climate change agreement is up for review as the initial Kyoto Protocol period to 2012 comes to an end. Though there has been much enthusiasm from political and environmental groups, the underlying economics and politics remain highly controversial. This book takes a cool-headed look at the critical roadblocks to agreement, examining the economics of climate change, the incentives of the main players (the United States, EU, China), and the policies which governments can put in place to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and ultimately shift our economies onto a low-carbon path. It questions the basis of much of the climate change consensus and debates the Stern Review's main findings. Aside from a reassessment of the economics of climate change, the book looks at the geography of the costs and benefits of climate change — the very different perspectives of Africa, China, Europe, and the United States — as well as the prospects for a new global agreement. It also considers policy instruments at the global level (whereas much of the literature to date is nationally and regionally based). Trading and R&D, along with more radical unilateral options, including geoengineering, are discussed. Finally, the book describes the institutional architecture — drawing on evidence from previous attempts in other areas, as well as proposals for new bodies.
Han Dolman
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- June 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780198779308
- eISBN:
- 9780191824388
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198779308.003.0013
- Subject:
- Physics, Geophysics, Atmospheric and Environmental Physics
The role of adaptation and mitigation to climate change is described using the concept of planetary boundaries. The future evolution of the main reservoirs of carbon is described. The role of the ...
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The role of adaptation and mitigation to climate change is described using the concept of planetary boundaries. The future evolution of the main reservoirs of carbon is described. The role of the land and ocean sink, the permafrost feedback and ocean acidification is described. The challenge to keep Earth’s temperature below 1.5 °C or 2.0 ºC is discussed. As this will involve large amounts of negative emission technologies, such as carbon capture and storage, this may be hard to achieve, as an analysis of their potential and environmental costs shows. Geoengineering has a separate of difficult problems to cope with, which makes the application non-trivial. Decarbonization of societies is discussed and an outline given for a transition path towards a carbon-free society.Less
The role of adaptation and mitigation to climate change is described using the concept of planetary boundaries. The future evolution of the main reservoirs of carbon is described. The role of the land and ocean sink, the permafrost feedback and ocean acidification is described. The challenge to keep Earth’s temperature below 1.5 °C or 2.0 ºC is discussed. As this will involve large amounts of negative emission technologies, such as carbon capture and storage, this may be hard to achieve, as an analysis of their potential and environmental costs shows. Geoengineering has a separate of difficult problems to cope with, which makes the application non-trivial. Decarbonization of societies is discussed and an outline given for a transition path towards a carbon-free society.
Arthur M. Diamond Jr.
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- June 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780190263669
- eISBN:
- 9780190263706
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190263669.003.0008
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Microeconomics
The wealth received by some innovative entrepreneurs is fair because of the large benefits of their innovations. Widespread flourishing under innovative dynamism encourages tolerance of diversity, ...
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The wealth received by some innovative entrepreneurs is fair because of the large benefits of their innovations. Widespread flourishing under innovative dynamism encourages tolerance of diversity, respect for the rights of others, more effective sympathy, and cultural diversity. The equality that matters most is that everyone has roughly an equal chance to improve their lives. The quantity of resources expands, because inventors and entrepreneurs create new uses for old materials. For example, process innovations in agriculture, such as the Haber-Bosch process for creating fertilizer from nitrogen in the air, mean that an abundance of food can be grown with less land, encouraging the greening of the planet. Innovations can allow us to adapt to modest and slow global warming. If global warming becomes greater and faster, other innovations can produce energy with less carbon, can increase the sequestration of carbon, and can counter the increase in temperature through geoengineering.Less
The wealth received by some innovative entrepreneurs is fair because of the large benefits of their innovations. Widespread flourishing under innovative dynamism encourages tolerance of diversity, respect for the rights of others, more effective sympathy, and cultural diversity. The equality that matters most is that everyone has roughly an equal chance to improve their lives. The quantity of resources expands, because inventors and entrepreneurs create new uses for old materials. For example, process innovations in agriculture, such as the Haber-Bosch process for creating fertilizer from nitrogen in the air, mean that an abundance of food can be grown with less land, encouraging the greening of the planet. Innovations can allow us to adapt to modest and slow global warming. If global warming becomes greater and faster, other innovations can produce energy with less carbon, can increase the sequestration of carbon, and can counter the increase in temperature through geoengineering.
