Will Individual Actions Do the Trick? Comparing Climate Change Mitigation Through Geoengineering Versus Reduced Vehicle Emissions

Abstract

Geoengineering is the focus of a large debate over potential solutions to climate change. However, in the midst of geoengineering and other large-scale proposals, such as reducing emissions at an industrial level, the role of individual actions to reduce emissions is often overlooked. Given the current and fast-paced changes we have seen as emissions are reduced by COVID-19 social distancing strategies, it is time to re-examine the impact that individual actions can have. This paper considers how one individual action (reducing carbon dioxide emissions from gasoline-fueled private vehicles), when adopted at a global scale, may have an effect that is comparable to the effects of geoengineering. This paper also argues that the role of geoengineering as a safeguard against climate change may be encouraging complacency and reducing motivation for individual action.