Climate change seems to be an insurmountable problem. Political solutions have so far had little impact. Some scientists are now advocating the so-called 'Plan B', a more direct way of reducing the rate of future warming by reflecting more sunlight back to space, creating a thermostat in the sky. In this book, Mike Hulme argues against this kind of hubristic techno-fix. Drawing upon a distinguished career studying the science, politics and ethics of climate change, he shows why using science to fix the global climate is undesirable, ungovernable and unattainable. Science and technology should instead serve the more pragmatic goals of increasing societal resilience to weather risks, improving regional air quality and driving forward an energy technology transition. Seeking to reset the planet's thermostat is not the answer. Climate change seems to be an insurmountable problem. Political solutions have so far had little impact. Some scientists are now advocating the so-called 'Plan B', a more direct way of reducing the rate of future warming by reflecting more sunlight back to space, creating a thermostat in the sky. In this book, Mike Hulme argues against this kind of hubristic techno-fix. Drawing upon a distinguished career studying the science, politics and ethics of climate change, he shows why using science to fix the global climate is undesirable, ungovernable and unattainable. Science and technology should instead serve the more pragmatic goals of increasing societal resilience to weather risks, improving regional air quality and driving forward an energy technology transition. Seeking to reset the planet's thermostat is not the answer.

Acknowledgements page vi

Acronyms page vii

Preface viii

1 Imagining an Engineered Climate 1

2 Designing a Global Thermostat 32

3 Governing the World's Temperature 57

4 Living in an Experimental World 89

5 Reframing the (Climate) Problem 114

Notes 141

Bibliography 144

Index 150

Mike Hulme is Professor of Climate and Culture in the Department of Geography at King's College London. His 2009 Why We Disagree about Climate Change won The Economist's 'Book of the Year Award'. He has contributed to public debates in the UK and US, writing for The Guardian and the Wall Street Journal. From 2000 to 2007 he was the Founding Director of the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research.