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Kelly Wanser on Climate Change as a Possible Existential Threat

Published
30 September, 2020

 Topics discussed in this episode include:

  • The risks of climate change in the short-term
  • Tipping points and tipping cascades
  • Climate intervention via marine cloud brightening and releasing particles in the stratosphere
  • The benefits and risks of climate intervention techniques
  • The international politics of climate change and weather modification

 

Timestamps: 

0:00 Intro

2:30 What is SilverLining’s mission?

4:27 Why is climate change thought to be very risky in the next 10-30 years?

8:40 Tipping points and tipping cascades

13:25 Is climate change an existential risk?

17:39 Earth systems that help to stabilize the climate

21:23 Days where it will be unsafe to work outside

25:03 Marine cloud brightening, stratospheric sunlight reflection, and other climate interventions SilverLining is interested in

41:46 What experiments are happening to understand tropospheric and stratospheric climate interventions?

50:20 International politics of weather modification

53:52 How do efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions fit into the project of reflecting sunlight?

57:35 How would you respond to someone who views climate intervention by marine cloud brightening as too dangerous?

59:33 What are the main points of persons skeptical of climate intervention approaches

01:13:21 The international problem of coordinating on climate change

01:24:50 Is climate change a global catastrophic or existential risk, and how does it relate to other large risks?

01:33:20 Should effective altruists spend more time on the issue of climate change and climate intervention?

01:37:48 What can listeners do to help with this issue?

01:40:00 Climate change and mars colonization

01:44:55 Where to find and follow Kelly

 

Citations:

SilverLining

Kelly’s Twitter

Kelly’s LinkedIn

 

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Transcript

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