Plan C for Civilization

Are some ideas too risky to explore, or is it time to turn to Plan C?

The controversial planet-cooling technology called solar geo-engineering is moving out of the lab and into a planet in the throes of a global warming. Part thriller, part wake-up call, the film asks whether or not we can still afford to ignore this powerful but mad idea.

Scientist David Keith has spent the past 30 years researching geo-engineering. You release reflective particles like sulfur dioxide into the upper atmosphere and they reflect a small percentage of incoming sunlight back into space.

It’s fast, it’s cheap, he knows for certain that it will work, and the solution's supporters are ready to start.

But as Al Gore put it, solar geo-engineering is also “utterly mad.”

With time running out for humans, Plan C for Civilization reveals the hidden world of climate tech — and asks whether or not we can afford to ignore one of the most controversial ideas on Earth.

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THE BIGGER PICTURE

Technology's Solution for the Climate: Fluff, Bluff or Remedy?

From geo-engineering to paleo-ice sheet reconstruction, our guests discuss science’s big ideas to repair or compensate for human-made damage to our planet. Do-ability, cost, benefits and risks. Come with your questions and your own knowledge or opinion on the matter!

Guest: Dimitri Zenghelis (world-renowned climate economist, advisor to governments, businesses and international organisations), Hannah E. Daly (UCC Professor in Sustainable Energy); Moderator: Aurélie Godet, Director of Programming Cork International Film Festival.

In partnership with University College Cork.