AS Barack Obama’s new administration prepares to take power, we can but hope that 2009 will be the year the world gets serious about climate change. And not a moment too soon. as the Earth’s natural ability to absorb them is declining. Species are starting to go extinct as a result (see “Comment: Move over, polar bear”).
It is a reflection of the parlous state of the planet that we report this week on technologies that not so long ago would have been dismissed as pie in the sky, even bonkers. Now they are increasingly seen as ways to repair the damage.
On page 34 we examine the growing interest in technologies that scrub carbon dioxide out of the air. A few years ago the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change dismissed talk of such “artificial trees” as impractical. Now several teams have built prototypes, raising hopes that this approach might become economic.
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There are also hints of a technological fix for species extinction. As our cover story explains (see “Ten extinct beasts that could walk Earth again”), it might be possible to resurrect extinct beasts such as sabre-tooth tigers or mammoths. Whether anyone would ever choose to do so is debatable, but the technology could also be used as a fallback to rescue species that are sliding towards extinction, such as gorillas, pandas or tigers.
Both projects have huge superficial appeal in appearing to offer the possibility of atoning for our environmental sins without having to change our profligate ways. This is dangerous nonsense, of course. We must keep our focus on the primary causes of the planet’s problems. Neither technology is an adequate substitute for efforts to cut emissions, preserve habitats and conserve endangered species. They are, all the same, welcome reminders of what human ingenuity can achieve, and of the fact that there is only a fine line between schemes that are wild-eyed and those that are far-sighted.
