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Listening 1 “A critical look at geoengineering against climate change” Summary: David Keith analyzes the climate issue we are facing and how we are not moving any further to find a real solution. He proposes a solution based on using science and geoengineering to act on the weather and control the climate. We have known about the climate issue for more than 50 years but our emissions rate has raised even more than what it was expected in the worst case scenario. At the same time, the ice cover is melting faster than originally predicted. David Keith claims that although a lot of time and energy have been used in discussing about possible solutions, the achievement has basically been none. He argues that the problem can be solved, and even in a cheap way. According to him the engineering artifacts and technology are ready to be used at the needed scale, and that we just need to take action in deciding to spend the money into solving the climate issue. While he promotes the need for continuing with the efforts to reduce the emissions globally, he also proposes an alternative: Leverage geoengineering to take action to control the climate. As an example he mentions sulfur injections (cloud of ash) to shield the earth from part of the sunlight and cool the planet, even though side effects and consequences should be considered. He says not to use geoengineering as an alternative to mitigation but to use it to take the worst of the heat off and palliate it. He believes we need to start talking about these possible solutions openly, as we are going to be confronted with decisions about this soon. Should we or should we not leverage technology and geoengineering to control climate? His suggestion is to start doing serious research on the solutions on controlling climate in order to be ready to answer this question and make a decision about this, instead of hiding these possible solutions. My opinion: I find it refreshing to hear about an alternative solution for the climate issue we are facing. It is also reassuring to learn that the science and technology that we have today can be deployed to palliate the overheating of the planet. However I believe that there are many reservations in using technology to control the climate, as there are probably side effects, like the impact on the ozone, that need additional research and thoughtful consideration. There is also the risk that, if we know that we can fix and control the climate, then we might decide to decrease the effort in reducing the CO2 emissions. Controlling climate or weather is a moral decision that calls for a broad debate and agreement at a worldwide level....