In this episode of La Loupe, Xavier Yvon explains the scientific and geopolitical issues around the cooling of the planet with Sébastien Julian, journalist in the Science department of L’Express.
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The team: Xavier Yvon (presentation), Margaux Lannuzel (writing), Mathias Penguilly (editing) and Jules Krot (directing).
Credits: Gross, Euronews, Europe 1, France 2, TF1
Music and design: Emmanuel Herschon/Studio Torrent
Picture credits: AFP
Logo: Anne-Laure Chapelain/Benjamin Chazal
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Xavier Yvon: To start this episode, I suggest you a little review session…
Not for a surprise quiz, but because the notions you need to fully understand this episode are quite technical… We’ve already detailed them in La Loupe, but that’s a bit old… That was a while ago for a year, in a podcast called “Le Plan B”, with our journalist Sébastien Julian, from the Sciences department…
Sebastian Julian: Scientists have been insisting for a long time that what must be done as a priority is plan A, that’s what you were talking about earlier, is to reduce our emissions. However, we can see that at some point things may get out of hand from a climatic point of view, so, even if it is not with lightheartedness, some scientists are exploring the technological track.
Xavier Yvon: In this episode, Roland Séférian, climatologist at Météo France, also explained to us the concept of “geo-engineering”… Listen carefully.
Roland Seferian: In fact, it is the engineering of what is interested in the global system, therefore in the planetary system. And so, the idea of this word is to encompass all the techniques which are going to have an impact on a planetary level and which are going to present themselves as a solution to a planetary problem, such as the problem of climate change.
Xavier Yvon: There you go, the basics are laid again… I would add that in this episode, we mentioned a whole bunch of more or less wacky geo-engineering ideas, such as injecting salt into the clouds or fertilizing the ocean to stimulate plankton …
We also mentioned the management of solar radiation: a technological solution to cool the planet… And Sébastien explained to us that this was one of the most serious leads for scientists…
Sebastian Julian: On a technical level, we don’t have all the keys, but we think it’s possible.
Xavier Yvon: If we devote a new episode to it, it’s because this track continues to progress… Especially in the United States, where political decision-makers spend the second… With a goal that can send shivers down your spine: one day to control the thermostat of the world.
For further
PODCAST. Who should pay for “reparations” for climate disasters?
PODCAST. Climate: will technology save the planet?
“There will be no collapse”: an “inevitable” warming of 1.5°C, and after?
Global warming: the objective of 1.5°C on the edge of the precipice
Capturing CO2, stimulating plankton: when technology is at the bedside of the climate