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The article focuses on the controversy surrounding carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology in the context of new carbon dioxide emissions standards for power plants. Topics include the criticisms and resistance to CCS from both industry and climate advocates, the existing technologies and risks associated with CCS, and the potential applications and limitations of CCS in achieving climate goals.

Soil and other Earth scientists who conduct research on C management found themselves, in the past decade within a swirl of efforts concerning climate mitigation, economic and business investments in carbon markets, and political aspirations. All these external pressures are issues with which soil science is largely unfamiliar. As a result, science has responded without deeply considering the landscape in which it finds itself, and some of the unanticipated challenges these issues present. Here, we suggest soil C scientists now consider and respond to these issues. The first order challenge is to transition from the concept of technical carbon sequestration potentials, made in the absence of social and policy contexts, to societally achievable sequestration estimates based on highly transdisciplinary teams of natural and social sciences and scientists. To achieve this will requires re-thinking national science funding programs, in which climate-relevant social science is under-funded. In addition, the science of soil C itself is in need of a priority shift. Presently, publications in soil C sequestration out-strip papers on soil feedbacks to climate change, and on how to adapt soil to climate change: two areas of research which may well be more societal important in the next few decades than sequestering C. Most seriously, given the urgent nature of our collective societal climate problem, our profession must not find itself a decade from now continuing the now 20-year-old narrative that soil C can potentially mitigate climate change and compensate for greenhouse gas emissions. We must consider the possibility that other options and expenditures of resources are more viable, and we must reframe our science's objectives to expand into the many other urgent needs that confront humanity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Countries and companies with net-zero emissions targets are considering carbon removal strategies to compensate for remaining greenhouse gas emissions. Soil carbon sequestration is one such carbon removal strategy, and policy and corporate interest is growing in figuring out how to motivate farmers to sequester more carbon. But how do farmers in various cultural and geographic contexts view soil carbon sequestration as a climate mitigation or carbon removal strategy? This article systematically reviews the empirical social science literature on farmer adoption of soil carbon sequestration practices and participation in carbon markets or programs. The article finds thirty-seven studies over the past decade that involve empirical research with soil carbon sequestering practices in a climate context, with just over a quarter of those focusing on the Global South. A central finding is co-benefits are a strong motivator for adoption, especially given minimal carbon policies and low carbon prices. Other themes in the literature include educational and cultural barriers to adoption, the difference between developing and developed world contexts, and policy preferences among farmers for soil carbon sequestration incentives. However, we argue that given the rising profile of technical potentials and carbon credits, this peer-reviewed literature on the social aspects of scaling soil carbon sequestration is quite limited. We discuss why the social science literature is so small, and what this research gap means for efforts to achieve higher levels of soil carbon sequestration. We conclude with a ten-point social science research agenda for social science on soil carbon—and some cautions about centering carbon too strongly in research and policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most scenarios that achieve present climate targets of limiting global heating to 1.5°–2.0°C rely on large-scale carbon dioxide removal (CDR) to drive net emissions negative after mid-century. Scenarios that overshoot and return to a future temperature target, or that aim to restore some prior climate, require CDR to be rapidly deployed, operated for a century or so, then greatly reduced or phased out. This need for future phasedown presents challenges to near-term policies that have been underexamined. A CDR enterprise of climate-relevant scale will require financial flows of billions to trillions of dollars per year. The enterprise and supporting policies will create risks of lock-in via mobilized actors whose interests favor continuance as well as other mechanisms. The future phasedown need implies suggestive guidance for near-term decisions about removal methods and design of associated policy and business environments. First, variation among methods' scale constraints and cost structures suggests a rough ordering of methods by severity of future phasedown challenges. Second, of the three potential means to motivate removals—profitable products incorporating removed carbon, extended emissions-pricing policies, or public procurement contracts—public procurement appears to present the fewest roadblocks to future phasedown. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Species loss is well-known as a defining challenge of our era. But in an era of increasing anthropogenic stressors, several ecosytems are at risk of collapsing because of human pressures. In the emergent literature on ecosystem collapse, few studies have focused on how ecosystem collapse is experienced by the communities living through it. In this paper I explore how communities understand ecosystem collapse, and possible ways of managing it, through a study of California's largest lake. The Salton Sea is at an ecological tipping point where it is rapidly shrinking and becoming more saline. This paper draws on 30 semistructured interviews in the Coachella and Imperial valleys around the lake, as well as observation of community meetings and archival material, to explore the following: How do people living around the Salton Sea view its collapse, including the failure to stop it? What measures do they see as having the potential to avert its collapse? These interviews indicate a clear understanding of the imminent decline, and a variety of conjectures about why nothing has been done, attributing this to its peripherality, power inequalities, the professionalization of Salton Sea solutions, and systematic incapacity on the part of the state of California. Respondents also surfaced three potential alternative pathways for restoration, as well as insights into the challenges of implementing them. The story of the Salton Sea, an ecosystem collapse in progress with no real action, may be repeated around the world, including in high-income jurisdictions like California, and it is important to understand the political and social contexts that determine whether or not a major effort is made to prevent collapse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this Forum, three scholars discuss how climate engineering will pose novel human rights challenges, and may well force reconsideration of how human rights are applied as a guide to action. Following a short introduction, the first section introduces three competing approaches to human rights, arguing views which emphasize fairness or attempt to maximize satisfaction are more promising than one viewing human rights as inviolable 'side-constraints'. The second section draws lessons from climate migration that are relevant for climate engineering in terms of incorporating a human rights approach to duties, rights, and participation. The final section compares the 'needs-based' and 'rights-based' approaches to humanitarian work in the face of climate change and climate engineering, raising concerns for duty-bearers and right-holders. The Forum's conclusion draws together points of overlap and suggests a path forward for policy and research on this topic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article provides advices about how to seek and implement self-accommodation strategies for women teachers and develops a plan called "low-spoon teaching." It suggests teaching with few units of energy and planning ahead for low-energy days or sad days by building a classroom culture of collaboration, flexibility and adaptation.

Negative emissions technologies have garnered increasing attention in the wake of the Paris target to curb global warming to 1.5 °C. However, much of the literature on carbon dioxide removal focuses on technical feasibility, and several significant social barriers to scale-up of these technologies have been glossed over. This paper reviews the existing literature on the social implications of rapidly ramping up carbon dioxide removal. It also explores the applicability of previous empirical social science research on intersecting topics, with examples drawn from research on first- and second-generation biofuels and forest carbon projects. Social science fieldwork and case studies of land use change, agricultural and energy system change, and technology adoption and diffusion can help in both anticipating the social implications of emerging negative emissions technologies and understanding the factors that shape trajectories of technological development. By integrating empirical research on public and producer perceptions, barriers to adoption, conditions driving new technologies, and social impacts, projections about negative emissions technologies can become more realistic and more useful to climate change policymaking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The second and third chapters, grouped in a section entitled, "The Political Economy of Platforms, Post-truth, and Power", explain how post-truth relates to platform capitalism. It's not just that we are siloed in our disciplines - we may be entering a new phase of "platform academia", with the dynamics and demands of social media creeping into scholarship, and academic publishing platforms functioning like media platforms. The Truth about Nature: Environmentalism in the Era of Post-truth Politics and Platform Capitalism: By Bram Büscher Oakland, CA: University of California Press, 2021, 254 pp., $85.00 (hardcover), ISBN: 9780520371446; $29.95 (paperback), ISBN: 9780520371453. [Extracted from the article]

The Anthropocene—the geological epoch in which human activities are signaled in Earth's geological records—often appears as an age to be met with grim resignation. Anxiety-driven narratives about this era can translate into very material landscapes of surveillance, tightened borders, farmland acquisitions, and so on, landscapes where speculation shapes lived realities. This article proposes that instead of joining the chorus of dark predictions, or rejecting the flawed concept altogether, geographers are well positioned to experiment with articulating a different Anthropocene. Fragments of a beautiful Anthropocene are already under design: agroecology, green roofs and buildings, distributed renewable energy systems. Yet to weave together a vision compelling enough to provoke cultural and political change, other elements are necessary: a reawakened sense of wonder, an ethic of care, and aesthetic and cultural production around these. This article proposes enchantment as a concept to evoke these elements and discusses the merits and dangers of imagining an enchanted Anthropocene. It looks at emergent alternative framings for thinking about a human-shaped earth and examples of related practices—rewilding, biophilic cities, planetary gardening, smart landscapes—which could make for a more habitable and welcoming epoch. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Geoengineering has been broadly and helpfully defined as 'the intentional manipulation of the earth's climate to counteract anthropogenic climate change or its warming effects' (Corner and Pidgeon , 26). Although there exists a rapidly growing literature on the ethics of geoengineering, very little has been written about its gender dimensions. The authors consider four contexts in which geoengineering appears to have important gender dimensions: (1) the demographics of those pushing the current agenda, (2) the overall vision of control it involves, (3) the design of the particular technologies, and (4) whom geoengineering will most affect and benefit. After detailing these four gender dimensions, we consider three ways in which the geoengineering discourse could be enriched if it became more sensitive to issues of gender. These include increasing the focus on the concrete other, recognizing the socially transformative potential of geoengineering technologies, and engaging in value-sensitive design. Although ultimately remaining agnostic on the desirability of geoengineering, the paper brings gender considerations into a discussion from which they have been conspicuously absent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Climate engineering, or geoengineering, refers to large-scale climate interventions to lower the earth's temperature, either by blocking incoming sunlight or removing carbon dioxide from the biosphere. Regarded as 'technofixes' by critics, these strategies have evoked concern that they would extend the shelf life of fossil-fuel driven socio-ecological systems for far longer than they otherwise would, or should, endure. A critical reading views geoengineering as a class project that is designed to keep the climate system stable enough for existing production systems to continue operating. This article first examines these concerns, and then goes on to envision a regime driven by humanitarian agendas and concern for vulnerable populations, implemented through international development and aid institutions. The motivations of those who fund research and implement geoengineering techniques are important, as the rationale for developing geoengineering strategies will determine which techniques are pursued, and hence which ecologies are produced. The logic that shapes the geoengineering research process could potentially influence social ecologies centuries from now. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carbon capture and storage (CCS) has been an object of social science research for nearly two decades now. However, CCS has moved beyond coal-fired electricity, and its roles in industrial decarbonization and atmospheric carbon dioxide removal are newly valued. Is the earlier social science research on CCS applicable to the current moment, or has the context and the object of inquiry changed? This paper assesses whether existing findings are fit-for-purpose, arguing that there are some useful insights, but they have not been applied well to CCS policy and development. The early period of social science research also faces topical and methodological limitations. The paper identifies four areas for social science research for this decade of broader CCS applications — researching CCS in the context of decarbonization, tradeoffs, and a just transition; shifting the focus from "whether" to "how" questions around deployment, including benefits and environmental justice dimensions; exploring new approaches to public engagement globally; and researching how understandings of CCS evolve within the current social media and information landscape. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Some scientists suggest that it might be possible to reflect a portion of incoming sunlight back into space to reduce climate change and its impacts. Others argue that such solar radiation management (SRM) geoengineering is inherently incompatible with democracy. In this article, we reject this incompatibility argument. First, we counterargue that technologies such as SRM lack innate political characteristics and predetermined social effects, and that democracy need not be deliberative to serve as a standard for governance. We then rebut each of the argument’s core claims, countering that (1) democratic institutions are sufficiently resilient to manage SRM, (2) opting out of governance decisions is not a fundamental democratic right, (3) SRM may not require an undue degree of technocracy, and (4) its implementation may not concentrate power and promote authoritarianism. Although we reject the incompatibility argument, we do not argue that SRM is necessarily, or even likely to be, democratic in practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental justice (EJ) and climate justice are becoming central foci of climate policy. Awareness is also growing on the need for some amount of carbon dioxide removal (CDR) to curb warming to 1.5 °C. In this paper we map dimensions of environmental and climate justice that stakeholders and communities will need to consider -- from local to global scales. Mapping issues is a step towards developing frameworks to undertake CDR in an environmentally just way. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to develop, digitally record, evaluate, and psychometrically equate a set of Mandarin bisyllabic word lists for use in measurement of speech discrimination. Familiar bisyllabic words were digitally recorded by male and female talkers of Standard Mandarin. Percentage of correct word recognition was measured for each word at ten intensity levels (-5 to 40 dB HL) in 5 dB increments using 20 normally hearing subjects. Using logistic regression, 200 words with the steepest logistic regression slopes were included in four psychometrically equivalent word lists of 50 words each, and eight half-lists of 25 words each. To increase auditory homogeneity of the lists, the intensity of words in each list was digitally adjusted so that the threshold of each list was equal to the midpoint between the mean thresholds of the male and female half-lists. Digital recordings of the psychometrically equivalent word recognition lists are available on compact disc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this investigation was to develop, digitally record, evaluate, and equate Mandarin trisyllabic words, which could then be used to measure the SRT. A selection of 90 frequently utilized trisyllabic words were digitally recorded by male and female talkers of Standard Mandarin and presented to 20 normally hearing subjects at 13 intensity levels (-10 to 14  dB  HL) in 2  dB increments. Using logistic regression, psychometric functions were then calculated for all words. Twenty-four trisyllabic words with steep psychometric function slopes were selected, and their intensities were digitally adjusted to match the mean subject PTA (3.0  dB  HL). The mean slopes for the 24 selected male and female trisyllabic Mandarin Chinese words were 11.3%/dB and 12.1%/dB, respectively. Thus we developed a list of words which were homogeneous with respect to audibility and slope. Digital recordings of the psychometrically equivalent trisyllabic words are available on compact disc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]