Earthmasters: The Dawn of the Age of Climate Engineering by Clive Hamilton (PDF)

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An essential book that comes to grips with the events that will determine the fate of the Earth This book goes to the heart of the unfolding reality of the twenty-first century: international efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions have all failed, and before the end of the century Earth is projected to be warmer than it has been for 15 million years. The question “can the crisis be avoided?” has been superseded by a more frightening one, “what can be done to prevent the devastation of the living world?” And the disturbing answer, now under wide discussion both within and outside the scientific community, is to seize control of the very climate of the Earth itself. Clive Hamilton begins by exploring the range of technologies now being developed in the field of geoengineering–the intentional, enduring, large-scale manipulation of Earth’s climate system. He lays out the arguments for and against climate engineering, and reveals the extent of vested interests linking researchers, venture capitalists, and corporations. He then examines what it means for human beings to be making plans to control the planet’s atmosphere, probes the uneasiness we feel with the notion of exercising technological mastery over nature, and challenges the ways we think about ourselves and our place in the natural world.

User’s Reviews

Editorial Reviews: Review ‘In his crystal-clear analysis Clive Hamilton warns against “Promethean recklessness” and calls for “utmost caution and deep reflection”. It’s depressing to realise what we have done and still want to do to our planet, but hope lies in thinkers such as Hamilton, if only we heed them before it’s too late.’—Tom Moriarty, Irish Times. — Tom Moriarty ― Irish Times Published On: 2015-01-10 About the Author Clive Hamilton is Vice-Chancellor’s Chair and professor of public ethics, Centre for Applied Philosophy and Public Ethics, Charles Sturt University, Canberra.

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐This book is not a serious review of the science of different approaches but a diatribe on why these are all flawed. The author, while a Dean at a reputable university, has no science or engineering background after grade 12, being a philosopher and ethicist. He is is simply enamored with the argument that complexity prevents humans from taking any action and that the only approach is to live in a “natural” world (whatever that is).In essence, the author opposes climate engineering based upon two “scientific or technological” arguments. The first argument is that massive scale efforts will be needed for some approaches and this will take a lot of effort. This is not surprising since addition of CO2 to the atmosphere is due to a massive worldwide industrialization! The author is incredibly naive about industrial scale electrical generation and fuel discovery and refining necessary to support billions of people. He needs to read “Energy w/o the Hot Air”, although that might be very difficult because he has absolutely no science background to understand any scientific arguments. The second argument is that solar radiation reduction (which amazingly requires little effort) is too easy to turn off and is thus subject to political whims.The author doesn’t see any contradiction in these statements, neither of which make sense, because the author really opposes climate engineering based upon a philosophical, not scientific or technical, argument, i.e., humans don’t know a lot about the ramifications of each approach because the earth’s ecological system is very complex. This may be true but is not a reason for inaction given the looming crisis.Let me use a medical analogy to illustrate the author’s arguments. An overweight man arrive in hospital with chest pains and the doctor says “You are having a heart attack. The treatments are all invasive and dangerous and could kill you, so I don’t want to try.” Everyone recognizes that is crazy, of course, as the doctor has to try and help the patient now. But, the doctor then continues with “If you had lost weight and started exercising 20 years ago, you wouldn’t be in this condition.” That is immaterial. The doctor must treat the patient’s condition not chastise him.In essence, the real intent of this book is to chastise humans for not taking actions to mitigate CO2 pollution 20 years ago. One doesn’t need to read over 200 pages or pay $18 to learn this. Indeed, there is nearly unanimous agreement from scientists of all walks that mitigation would have been the better choice. But, human political systems have not done that. So, the question is how to prevent the upcoming climate disaster. Unfortunately, this book doesn’t address that question in all its complexity.BTW: before people start accusing me of lots of things, let me be clear that there is a great crisis coming. It is not just global warming but also, and IMHO more critically, acidification of the ocean. The latter fact strongly suggests that solar radiation management is not the appropriate climate engineering approach, but one would never know this from Dr. Hamilton’s book. IMHO, humans may simply be taking an evolutionary route to extinction, which has happened many times to the dominant species in the history of the earth.

⭐The book explains every intellectually mature and immature person that solving Climate Change problems won’t be so simple and there are better ways to solve than Governments coming together to force policies to which some may or may not adhere to. Moreover, advanced technology is not always the panacea for our survival as if you start it you would create trouble but if you stop your society is doomed. This is contrary to what the contemporary project evaluation methods and financial calculations we all use today. This implies that our economic theories as pointed out by Joseph Stiglitz that most policies are de-humanized because they do not relate to the ground reality. Hence, technologies and policies constructed with this flawed paradigm in mind for an entity such as our climate and eco-system is “doomed to fail” and this “too big too fail” climate cannot be bailed out by tax payers money by either wiring money electronically in a bank or even open to the private sector and entrepreneurs to some free-market approach which believes that entities work individually and everything is stabilized, another theory which has proven false over the years. This book should be read by all budding economists and financial gurus to help them understand what is really needed by our civilization for its survival and also remember William Black’s words of wisdom which tries to explain that finance of a mechanism to enable a process to come into picture but not a end in itself. The climate and ecosystem works in entirely a different manner and measures should be more bottom up than top down in order to mitigate socio-economic upheavals and political crises.

⭐Dr. Hamilton expertly intertwines psychology, history and climate science into a beautiful tapestry of words, analogies and first-hand experiences. His knowledge of so many different subjects adds the necessary depth for discussing how to control the aspects of nature; and his enthusiasm for quality storytelling carves down the rough edges of boring science. A prescient modern Prometheus that seeks to control the future by employing the help of curiosity. What lies beneath Pandora’s box? Will it be something that we can utilize to save humanity from extinction? Or will it be just another tale about how humanity tried to conquer the evils of Zeus (nature), but how we fail miserably, and eternally? Only time will tell, but this book is the first glimpse into a wonderful and sustainable future for all mankind.

⭐Accessible science writing that still portrays the science reasonably is rare. This book does that. In addition Hamilton’s portrayal of the politics surrounding climate change and climate change denial is both fair and a bit of a wake-up call on who the “good” and bad” guys really are. I would recommend this to anyone who would rather see the problem coming than be blind-sided. This is for people who want to think clearly past all the distortions appearing in the popular press. Beware: If you respect and love Nature, this book is not for the faint of heart…..

⭐It is a strong wake up call for getting our act together.It considers the social forces that are or might be at play.Clive hamilton tells about what might be called ‘behavioural believes’ that battle with the reality of our planets possibilities.And that is a scary bit to considers. It does make me think of Easter Island as a small example what must have happend, but now might be at play on a planetary scale…Reading this book is a treatise in what ‘rhetorical mechanics’ politicians use to fend for there goals.Recommanded for everyone who studies politics!

⭐Clive Hamilton’s previous book, Requiem for a Species, was a depressing insight into the pervasiveness of climate change denial, fuelled, he suggested, by an unwillingness to contemplate social changes that would involve having to adopt lower-carbon lifestyles. Earthmasters follows on from this. Here, Hamilton focusses on advocates of geoengineering, who propose techno-fixes that would, they promise, stabilise the climate while avoiding the need for social change.The author is a helpful guide to the brave new world of climate control. He explains how some of the more realistic geoengineering schemes might work, whether by removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere or by blocking some of the sun’s rays from entering it (or ‘Solar Radiation Management’ in the suitably Orwellian official terminology). He is not taken in by the hype, and is careful to draw attention to possible unintended consequences of each scheme. One of the most revealing features of the book is what it uncovers about the unlikely coalition of forces promoting geoengineering – from, at one extreme, climate scientists who despair at humanity’s apparent inability to adopt necessary emissions controls, to, at the other, conservative think tanks which manage to combine strenuous denial of the reality of human-caused climate change with spirited advocacy of technological interventions to control the climate.Hamilton draws an interesting distinction between what he calls Promethean and Soterian attitudes to social and technological change. Prometheans, followers of the Greek god of technological mastery, are, he suggests, always seeking technological solutions to problems, to avoid the need for social change. Soterians, in contrast, follow the Greek goddess of security and preservation, and prefer to make the changes which render problems less acute and minimise risks. Clearly it is Prometheans who created the problem of climate instability, and are now the most vocal advocates of geoengineering solutions which, they insist, would allow us to continue on our growth path without jeopardising the climate.There is a dilemma at the heart of Earthmasters, which Hamilton never manages to completely resolve. Do we accept that we may have left it too late to protect the climate stability on which we rely by cutting emissions, and start exploring the geoengineering alternatives, with all the risks they entail? Or would the very act of considering these alternatives bring a form of moral hazard into play – would we be drawn to geoengineering as an easy option, and give up any attempt to cut emissions?If some form of geoengineering is adopted, Hamilton suggests that he would prefer it to be managed by Sotarians, who would reluctantly accept it as a regrettable measure to protect deeper values based on respect for nature, than by Promethians, who would embrace it as a way of enhancing human domination of nature and enabling economic growth to continue unrestrained. Promethean rule, Hamilton concludes, must be overthrown, and time is running out – “if the meek are ever to inherit the Earth then they had better be quick.” How this might be brought about, Hamilton does not say. Clearly there is a sexual politics dimension here, hinted at, but never developed. Earthmasters is an important book, but it is a great pity, in my view, that Hamilton does not take the opportunity to explore this aspect further. Without this further exploration, and any clear call to action, we are left with a sense of hopelessness, which is ultimately disempowering.

⭐An interesting book which is a long discussion of the various approaches proposed to control the climate. The first half is about the science and the rest is about the politics. I’d rather have read more science.

⭐awesome

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