The capitalist system requires the use of fossil fuels to run its engines of never-ending growth. Their ruling class can no longer deny the fact of rapid global warming stemming from the use of fossil fuels. So what do they do? They will not be deterred from operating the system which gives them so much power and wealth, so they are now promising a geo-engineering fix.
Carbon dioxide air capture and biochar, despite their potentially massive impacts in terms of energy, water and land requirements, are among the geoengineering proposals that are considered more benign. They are being promoted in part to soften up public opinion for other more intuitively objectionable forms of geo-engineering, such as spraying vast amounts of sulphur particles into the stratosphere or manipulating clouds over large areas.
Those approaches would indeed be guaranteed to produce rapid effects. Among them: immediate crop-failures, acid rain and ozone destruction. In sum, geoengineering options amount to "picking your poison."
