To the Editor:
Steven E. Koonin paints a grimly accurate picture of the largely ineffective course of global climate negotiations. For many reasons, as he notes, it is unlikely that international legal structures will produce the reductions needed to stabilize global climate.
However, Mr. Koonin’s conclusion, that we had basically better get used to it, neglects the catastrophic effects that a grossly altered global climatic system will produce: impacts that may destabilize entire regions of the world and produce human suffering, particularly in less wealthy nations, at unimaginable levels.
It is time to take a hard look at geoengineering technologies, which offer a third choice alongside unlikely emissions reductions and defeatist adaptation. For the last 125 years, humanity has been running an uncontrolled experiment on the global atmosphere. International scientific and diplomatic efforts are needed to formally explore promising technologies, like iron fertilization, that may provide a pragmatic solution.
REBECCA PINCUS
Barre, Vt.
Note from KBJ: How stupid and vain do you have to be to think that in just 125 years, human beings have changed the planet's climate?
