Beware the hazards of #geoengineering

Geoengineering is the use of solutions like shooting gargantuan quantities of sulfur dioxide into the atmosphere in an attempt to cool down global warming.  The technique mimics what happens when a volcano erupts.

What bothers many experts is that geoengineering involves highly experimental techniques on a massive scale with literally earth-shaking possible consequences. Now some scientists have similar ideas on transforming Mars into a "living" planet using Star Trek-like techniques.  Elon Musk hopes that such plans could help save the human race from a future Earth catastrophe.

Experimenting on Mars is one thing, though, as we don't have any evidence of life currently existing on that planet.  The Earth is a totally different matter.  It's the only known inhabited planet in the universe, according to our own limited knowledge.  We may ultimately be wrong about that, but for now, we certainly don't want to risk messing things up here.

Another thing that irks environmentalists, in particular, is that geoengineering may create the false impression that we can continue on with our high consumption lifestyles forever.  Even if you could tackle climate change with expensive planet-wide schemes, a fast-growing, fast-developing global population will begin consuming more than the planet can provide before too long.

Not to mention that there is still the problem of the massive amounts of waste such consumption would produce.  Do we nuke it or shoot it into space?

Tackling population growth might be a better solution than geoengineering, but the conventional methods here don't seem to work either. Even China's draconian measures of the last several decades have produced nearly as many problems as they have solved.   Besides, it's highly doubtful that such methods would be accepted widely for various reasons. For example, cultural resistance would be an obstacle in Muslim and Hindu nations.

One method that seems to work well is building up highly developed countries where women can go to college and enter the workforce.  In such cases, birthrates go down spectacularly, even too well.

Such developed nations that currently exist generally need to implement immigration policies to prevent depopulation from becoming a problem.  Now, think if that could happen throughout the world.

Of course, we probably would have to come up with another solution in that case to stabilize demographic trends.  But those are the types of problems that we should look forward to solving. 

For example, in many developed nations, it's often too difficult for working women to have families.  New laws providing assistance like paid maternity leave can certainly help out.

Recent research also shows that industrialization can have direct negative influence on reproduction.  This should not be surprising given all the strange chemicals that come into our bodies from different sources like our air, food and water.   The industrial plastic BPA, for example, is found in can linings and plastic bags, and may reduce sperm counts in men.

Again, though, those kinds of problems are much preferable to a situation in which the world appears to be running out of space, and out of resources like food, water and the raw materials for industrialized societies.