Balancing Risks while Navigating the Climate Crisis
Tycho Huussen
Systems thinking | project management & consultancy | ecodesign | geological net zero | marine cloud brightening | physics & marine science
The threats and opportunities of solar radiation modification and the psychology of risk
The polycrisis poses some formidable risks. But what are risks? And how do we get a handle on them? To many “risk” is a dirty word, a forebode of disaster, and therefore it is not surprising most people are risk averse. The psychology of risk is clearly at play in the climate debate and that shouldn’t be a surprise. It is well known responses to risks are highly emotionally drive and that most people struggle to adequately analyze and assess risks.
With regard to Solar Radiation Modification (SRM) or Geoengineering many educated and wise people dismiss the enterprise altogether, referring to human hubris and its inevitable downfall. In ancient Greek mythology hubris was ultimately brought down by Nemesis, the goddess of fortune and retribution. This idea is deeply rooted in many cultures and also illustrated by the Tower of Babel parable in the Book of Genesis.
Read the full article on Substack
You can support my work by becoming a free or paid subscriber on Substack.
Thank you,
Tycho