When
Where
Available in person in Harshbarger 110 or via zoom (see email link)
Abstract
As global carbon dioxide emissions continue to rise, it grows increasingly unlikely that global warming will be averted before severe consequences begin to manifest. Research has shown that strategically introducing aerosols into the atmosphere to reflect sunlight - varyingly termed "climate intervention", "geoengineering", or "solar radiation modification" - could cool the planet and offset many of the worst expected impacts of climate change. However, such proposals are not only complex and uncertain from a physical perspective, but also politically, ethically, and legally complicated. In this presentation, we discuss the promises and pitfalls of solar geoengineering: what do we know, what do we not know, what uncertainties still need to be addressed, and how can we ensure that research and deployment (if such technology is ever deployed) is done in a responsible and ethical way?
Bio
Walker Raymond Lee is a postdoctoral research scientist at the NSF National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado. Growing up in Saint Paul, Minnesota, Walker spent many weekends outdoors with the Boy Scouts of America and became very passionate about the environment. Walker attended Brown University to study mechanical engineering, where he researched renewable hydropower energy. After graduating in 2018, he started his Ph.D. at Cornell University; since then, Walker's research has focused on using climate models to study the potential impacts of climate interventions - local, regional, or planetary-scale reflection of sunlight to cool the planet and reduce the impacts of global warming. Walker finished his dissertation in 2023 and started work as a postdoc at NCAR, where he conducts simulations for the Geoengineering Model Intercomparison Project (GeoMIP) and works with other modeling centers to compare and understand the impacts of climate intervention across climate models.