Climate change is topical today and it seems that it will occupy our tomorrow too – but what can we do about it? Wallace Broecker, the scientist who coined the term global warming way back in 1975, believes in a solution requiring a complete paradigm shift. Artificial trees designed to remove CO2 directly from the air. Penned by Broecker with award-winning science writer Robert Kunzig, this riveting and important book looks back at Earth’s volatile climate history to shed light on the challenges we face ahead.
In ‘Fixing Climate: What Past Climate Changes Reveal About the Current Threat—and How to Counter It’, the two thinkers explain that it is not only imperative to reduce carbon waste from our atmosphere but it is equally essential to remove all that has accumulated over the years. They propose spring-cleaning the atmosphere through a radical but innovative solutions.
Wallace Broecker has always gone against the grain. In 1975, when the whole world was smug in its belief that the Earth was cooling down, he argued otherwise. He sounded the first klaxon call on global warming. And he made path breaking co-relations between climate cycles and the fluctuating concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide. But 30 years down the line he has now moved away from propounding theories to a more solution oriented approach. The ‘Why’ has given way to the ‘How’.
Wallace Broecker maintains that humankind will never be able to give up on fossil fuels. Alternative forms of energy are falling way short of the massive demand. Nuclear energy has safety issues. Wind energy is not sufficient…hydrogen fuels would require massive investments in technology and infrastructure…solar energy is still expensive on a larger scale.
It is this interim period between hope and discovery that the scientist is worried about. As carbon emissions continue to surge towards the dangerous limits, the need to cut down exponentially increases within the same timeframe. According to Wallace Broecker, it is a Catch-22 situation.
In the book, the scientist outlines a radical solution. A machine which can suck out large amounts of CO2 from the atmosphere. Called the ‘Scrubber‘ the new machine is designed to soak up large volumes of CO2 which can then be further processed into a harmless form. A prototype already developed employs a new age plastic which draws in the gas and allows for it to be captured, compressed and then safely deposited underground.
In fact, this idea is not novel in itself. it is done on every space shuttle and submarine to prevent crews from asphyxiating on their own exhaled breath. Only, now the Earth is the mother ship.
Broecker admits that scrubbing the air of CO2 would be a gigantic task involving the whole planet. He points out that if all the CO2 that is likely to be pumped into the air over the next 20 years were captured and liquefied it would fill Lake Michigan. He envisions a world where his scrubbers would be ‘planted’ across the landscape like artificial trees waging a silent war against the greenhouse gas.
His critics view him as the archetypal ‘mad scientist’, but Wallace Broecker’s resume reflects anything but that. His word may not be environmental gospel but it deserves to be taken seriously for at least being out of the box.
