Mapping The Open Questions and Researcher Perspectives in The Field of Solar Aerosol Injection

• In Event: 50620 - Section on Environmental Sociology Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Table 6: Environmental Identities and Beliefs

Abstract

This Paper examines the field of Solar Aerosol Injection (SAI), a subfield of geoengineering that is gaining prominence as a proposed solution to climate change. The scientific research and policy decisions made regarding the technology have the potential to make drastic changes to human society and earth’s ecology, however the process by which those decisions are made is opaque. Using content analysis of peer-reviewed publications from SAI researchers, relevant policy bodies, and funding sources this research creates a list of the open questions within the field where consensus has not been found, as well as develops a typology of the approaches and perspectives that individuals and organizations take to answer these open questions. By developing these typologies and surveying the existing publications it is possible to begin to map the social, economic, and political dynamics that affect the development of research within the field, the regulations that may govern it, and the consensuses reached.

Author

• Jared Weld Sanborn, University of Utah