Climate Turned Global Warming

Suppose the climate turned so bad that some nation, or even a private group, insisted on launching a geoengineering project? Crutzen and his supporters argued that it would be best to have research on hand in advance to point out the true possibilities and pitfalls. Yet Crutzen himself admitted there was a risk that hopes for a cheap technical fix would be used "to justify inadequate climate policies." And there remained the old problem that a climate change that helped one region could damage another. The old battles over "stealing" rain might revive. Even the fantasies of climatological warfare could stalk back into history, strengthened by scientific advances. As a historian remarked, "Who would have the wisdom to dispense drought, severe winters, or the effects of storms... If, as history shows, fantasies of weather and climate control have chiefly served commercial and military interests, why should we expect the future to be different?" The technical, political and ethical problems raised by deliberately influencing the global climate remained at least as great as the problems raised by our unintended influence.