Which doesn't matter at all because once CO2 is released, getting it back out is utterly beyond human capabilities. Not 1y out, not 10y out, 100+ years out, maybe impossible.<p>So we won't be doing that.<p>Which seems to mean, climate engineering, here we come ... But it's not so easy.<p>Cooling the planet is easy. Heating it is the hard thing. In an emergency, we could undo 130+ years of global warming in a few hours, with nukes, without advance warning. And given a few months to a few years we could use much more subtle methods too.<p>Of course, cooling would make REALLY large pieces of land unliveable. And ... in warm climates you have energy available. You can fight the effects of warming locally, even in a single house, which humans have been doing since before history began. Fighting cooling ... only possible if you bring your own energy. Cooling is much worse than warming.<p>So in the long term the evolution of thought is even more funny. We COULD cool the planet. We'll doubtless figure out a few ways to do it. We have already figured out one or two ways, though they could be more subtle. Maybe even one or two really good ways. Then, we'll research the implications better, and find that given the choice between cooling and warming ...<p>We'll take the warming over the cooling, given the choice. Even just cooling back to the levels of the beginning of the 20th century would be far worse than 2 or even 5 degree warming. And the limit of what the climate anomaly, also called global warming, probably isn't even 5 degrees warmer than 1850. What burning all fossil fuels (including coal) could induce is not quite 5 degrees. Unthinkable (but historically occurred) levels of volcanic activity can get us close to 8 degrees warming, but humans can't.<p>If you look it up, by the way, you'll find that solar power, no matter which method is used, is MUCH better at cooling the planet than forests, oceans, steppes, deserts, ... just about any place where you might build solar power.<p>So we could see the ultimate joke. We may cool the planet WAY too much by accident ... then find we're forced to find ways to artificially heat the planet again!<p>The problem with the current viewpoint is it's very basis. The view that nature is good for humans, is good for itself. Of course, this is bullshit. Nature doesn't care. Ironically, Gaia is often associated with the view that nature will provide. What did the mythical godess Gaia actually do? She fought to protect her children, the titans, who killed entire countries with their entire population and left desolate, lifeless places behind, against Zeus. Funny, that.<p>Nature doesn't care and will kill us all. The question is when, but that it will is a complete certainty.