By Any Means Necessary
We need a comprehensive vision of ecological reconstruction — and that means having geoengineering as part of our vision.
GUESTROW, GERMANY – MARCH 07: Electricity pylons stand at sunset on March 7, 2011 near Guestrow, Germany. According to a recent report partially funded by the German government, Germany’s electricity grid requires an additional 3,500km of transmission capability and EUR 6 billion in investment in order to accommodate planned alternative energy projects, including solar parks and both land-based and offshore windparks. (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images)
In early 2017, there was a widely reported story about the death of the Great Barrier Reef. This natural wonder, off the coast of Australia, stretches over 100,000 square miles. It has been built and maintained for thousands of years by billions of tiny organisms, and it sustains a complex population of aquatic life.
The reef has now become yet another victim of human-induced climate change. The culprit is a phenomenon known as “coral bleaching,” caused by warming ocean waters. The coral polyps that create the reef overheat and expel algae that live in their tissue, turning white. Over time, this leads to the death of the polyps, and thus the death of the reef ecosystem.
The problem of coral bleaching has been known for some time, but recent studies have found that the process is proceeding much faster than expected — large sections of the reef are already dead. In a March 2017 New York Times article, an Australian scientist reports finding a level of destruction not expected to occur for thirty years.
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