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  • Risk technologies and contemporary societal challenges [Elektronski vir] : geoengineering in the risk society
    Pustovrh, Toni ; Lukšič, Andrej
    The paper provides an introduction to the issue of human-caused climate change, and the social, political and technological developments that have led to the development and spread of ideas about ... geoengineering interventions, which could be used to mitigate the expected climate change. At the same time, it places geoengineering, which is defined as the engineering of the environment on a large scale with the aim of counteracting the effects of changes in atmospheric chemistry, into the context of the risk society and technological attempts to solve contemporary problems, which are at least partly of socio- cultural, not merely of technical or natural origin. The central part is devoted to the analysis, which comprises the overview and categorization of each of the proposed geoengineering techniques in relation to the mechanism of its effect, the anticipated theoretical efficiency to reduce the expected global warming, and the possible unintended negative consequences. It also discusses the potential of the examined geoengineering techniques for deliberate hostile use in the sense of dual-use technologies. The conclusion summarizes the findings of the analysis and identifies the least risky geoengineering techniques. As can be seen, the techniques with the lowest known risks are those that operate on the longest time scales and are able to offset only a small percentage of the estimated global warming, which means that they can act only as a support to mitigation measures. It also provides a reflection on the place of technology and risks in the risk society, and on the risks of commercial geoengineering which could, through the mechanisms of the post-academic science model, lead to the normalization and the implementation of the geoengineering techniques with the greatest potential side effects. Finally, it further defines the potential role of geoengineering in the context of global catastrophic environmental change and mass extinctions that have occurred throughout the geological history of life on Earth
    Source: Exploration of political ecology in Slovenia [Elektronski vir] (Str. 69-95)
    Type of material - e-article ; adult, serious
    Publish date - 2017
    Language - english
    COBISS.SI-ID - 35109725

    Link(s):

    http://dk.fdv.uni-lj.si/ek/pdfs/Exploration_of_political_ecology_in_Slovenia.pdf

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