Congressional briefing brings together former lawmaker, scientists to consider climate engineering options

Former House Science and Technology Committee Chairman Bart Gordon speaks to climate engineering briefing attendees as Mike MacCracken, Chief Scientist for Climate Change Programs at the Climate Institute looks on.

On Dec. 4, 2014 the Ecological Society of America (ESA) co-organized a congressional briefing entitled “Climate Engineering: Future Guiding Principles and Ethics.” The briefing was also sponsored by the American Society of Agronomy, the Crop Science Society of America and the Soil Science Society of America.

The briefing featured former House Science and Technology Committee Chairman Bart Gordon (D-TN), who held several hearings on climate engineering—also known as geoengineering—in 2009 and 2010. Featured speakers also included Paul Bertsch, Deputy Director of Australia’s Land and Water Flagship of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) and Michael MacCracken, Chief Scientist for Climate Change Programs with the Climate Institute.

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Over fifty people attended the briefing held in the Cannon House Office Building on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC on Dec. 4, 2014 .

Former Congressman Gordon speaks to congressional briefing attendee.

Former Congressman Gordon speaks to briefing attendees.

MacCracken discussed climate change’s various impacts on humans and ecosystems and outlined various geoengineering options.

Bertsch’s presentation called for a “coherent coordinated cross-agency research strategy for examining the opportunities and evaluating the risks associated with various climate engineering strategies.”