Climate Restoration Info Resources
Introducing the Climate Restoration Working Paper Series!
Our Working Papers address vital, controversial topics in climate to spark discussion among people working in the field.
(For an introduction to climate restoration, see below for Climate Restoration—The Only Future That Will Sustain the Human Race as well as a series of factsheets. )
This first Working Paper addresses costs and effectiveness of a wide variety of carbon-dioxide removal (CDR) methods. Not all CDR methods are equal to the task of climate restoration, and costs may vary by a ratio of 30,000 to one. Click the link and tell us what you think!
The Ethical Dilemma of Restoring a Safe Climate
At the heart of our failure to end the climate crisis lurks an ethical dilemma. A recent survey shows that 85 percent of Americans agree that “We have a moral responsibility to create a safe and healthy climate for ourselves and our children.”
Yet to do this, we need not only reach net-zero emissions: We also need to pull down a trillion tons of "legacy" carbon already the air. Here's the catch: effective, large-scale CO2 removal is essentially banned by widely accepted UN climate goals that date from 1992. Drafted in a vastly different climate era, the UN agreement calls for "stabilizing" greenhouse gases and preventing human interference in the climate system.
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Do we restore the climate so that humanity and nature can survive and thrive? Or do we continue to honor the outdated goal of not "interfering?"
The Climate Restoration Roadmap 2024
This climate restoration roadmap outlines the four critical programs needed to achieve net-zero emissions by 2030 and a historically safe climate by 2050.
These climate restoration programs proceed in parallel with the thousands of ongoing climate action programs intended to attain net-zero by 2050. Such programs include accelerating the energy transition, emission reductions, carbon removal technologies, reducing consumption, improving agriculture and mariculture, and economic tools (e.g. carbon tax and border adjustments)—all are important concepts, but distinct from this initiative.
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A Plan for Full-Scale Methane Oxidation Implementation -
To Halve Methane Levels by 2030
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Nature removes methane—a potent greenhouse gas—from the atmosphere continuously through oxidation. We can now replicate and accelerate the natural process and, at low cost, reduce atmospheric methane to pre-industrial levels. Doubling the current rate of methane removal would:
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1) Cut atmospheric methane levels in half—and bring them back to pre-industrial levels
2) Rewind global warming by roughly eight years;
3) Protect humanity in case today’s methane burst becomes serious.
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This working paper outlines some of the technical details. For more general understanding of the process, see CR Brief #5 below: Atmospheric Methane Removal.
Mt. Pinatubo and Ocean Iron Fertilization
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This Working Paper provides original analysis of the effects of the 1991 Mt. Pinatubo eruption.
Within a year of the eruption, 20 gigaton of CO2 had been drawn down, keeping CO2 levels over 2 ppm lower than they would have been had not Pinatubo interrupted the long-standing upward trend. The effect lasted at least a decade.
The paper concludes that this startling drawdown could only have been prompted OIF ocean downwind of the volcano.
The speed and scale of atmospheric CO2 removal bolsters the view that intentional OIF could remove 60 Gt / CO2 a year, thus restoring our climate by 2050.
Climate Resolution—The Only Future
That Will Sustain the Human Race
THE book on climate restoration!
People around the world recognize the dire threat posed by climate change. Governments, businesses, and individuals are making commitments to shift to renewable energy sources, trim consumption, and otherwise reduce their carbon footprints.
But what if these well-intentioned steps are likely to be woefully inadequate to ensure the future health—or even survival—of the human race? What if the most popular goal being pursued by today’s climate activists—net zero carbon emissions—is actually a recipe for human disaster?
Introducing Climate Restoration
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Don't we all long to restore a safe climate? Safe meaning a climate in which humans have actually survived and flourished? In this “pre-industrial” climate, which allowed us to develop agriculture and thriving civilizations, atmospheric CO2 never rose above 300 parts per million (ppm). Today, CO2 levels are 420 ppm. Yet now we know how to bring CO2 back down to pre-industrial levels—and could do so by 2050.
Restoring Oceans, Removing CO2
What if we could remove atmospheric CO2 on a grand scale, the way Nature does before ice ages? We can! Ocean iron fertilization (OIF) appears to be the fastest, safest and most effective climate restoration solution.
Strategically applied, it can also restore marine life. OIF is expected to require little or no public funding—instead the process produces revenue and taxes from revived fisheries.
Synthetic Limestone: Building with CO2
Nature has stored 99 percent of all the CO2 on Earth in the form of limestone, made of calcium and CO2 by shellfish and other marine organisms. Nearly half carbon dioxide by weight, limestone is an ideal, permanent storage system for this greenhouse gas.
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Synthetic limestone is already in use at the San Francisco International Airport!
Methane causes about one third of today’s global warming. It is, however, short-lived since Nature oxidizes it continuously. Using Enhanced Atmospheric Methane Oxidation (EAMO), we can accelerate the natural process and, at low cost, reduce atmospheric methane to pre-industrial levels.
Doubling the background rate of methane oxidation could rewind warming back to 2002 levels by 2050. In addition, EAMO could protect humanity in the event that methane emission from melting permafrost reaches catastrophic levels.
Adapted from Climate Restoration, this 54-page white paper shows why the goal of net-zero carbon emissions set in connection with the Paris Climate Accords is not sufficient to protect the future of humanity. Authors Fiekowsky and Douglis introduce climate restoration and describe the Big Four technologies, based on natural processes, that can remove a trillion tons of CO2 from the atmosphere—thereby restoring the climate that enabled humans to thrive throughout history.
