Hey #Yugen Community!
Have you ever heard about the term ‘Prometheanism’? Prometheanism is a concept formed by John Dryzek, a political thinker. He defined Prometheanism as the state in which the earth’s resources are merely at the disposal for humans to use as we wish. He proposed that we can overcome all environmental problems with human innovation.
When I first heard about this concept I instantly thought about some elaborate invention from WALL-E or Dr. Doofenshmirtz creating some sort of ‘anti-climate change-inator’. On doing more research, I found out that many scientists in the arena of geoengineering are actually experimenting and attempting to counteract the effects of climate change. Geoengineering refers to the deliberate large scale-intervention in the Earth’s natural systems to counteract climate change. These techniques include the removal of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and reflecting a portion of the Sun’s energy back into space.
Although some techniques have been carried out on a very small scale, they have received a lot of public criticism and skepticism due to their unknown effects long term. Researchers have also stated that geoengineering experiments would not ‘fix’ the climate completely if the rest of the world continued non-sustainable practices. Some suggested that it would simply ‘buy us time’ and that it is still necessary for us to reduce or alter human activity that is not safe for the environment.
The concept of ‘geoengineering’ is still really new to me and it has really piqued my interest in our efforts to combat climate change. If you are curious to find out more as well, feel free to check out the links below:
I would love to know your thoughts. What do you think about human innovation being used to mitigate the effects of climate change and human activity? Yay or nay?
- Caron D.
Hi Mustapha!😊
Thank you for sharing your thoughts. I completely agree with you! Human innovation needs to work hand in hand with sustainable practices such as reducing our carbon footprint and plastic consumption.
I definitely think Geoengineering would play a factor in the fight against climate change but it needs to be coupled with much effort to reduce our emissions as well. It has to be in tandem with each other!