[Virtual] What Is the Least Bad Way to Cool the Planet?

David Keith, Ph.D., is Professor of Applied Physics at Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. He will speak on the topic, What Is the Least Bad Way to Cool the Planet?  Physical responses to climate change include: decarbonizing the energy system, removing carbon from the atmosphere, solar geoengineering—these are all methods of intervening in the climate to reduce the amount of change caused by accumulated carbon—and, local adaptations also known as increased resiliency. Professor Keith will share how he sees the climate challenge in the context of other human challenges. He will then focus discussion on the environmental risks and the politics of the pathways to a cooler planet.

In addition to his above professorial duties, David Keith is Professor of Public Policy in the Harvard Kennedy School.  He has worked near the interface between climate science, energy technology, and public policy for 25 years. He took first prize in Canada’s national physics prize exam, won MIT’s prize for excellence in experimental physics, and was one of TIME magazine’s Heroes of the Environment.  Best known for work on solar geoengineering, his analytical work has ranged from the climatic impacts of large-scale wind power to an early critique of the prospects for hydrogen fuel.  Professor Keith has built a high-accuracy infrared spectrometer for NASA’s ER-2 and developed new methods for reservoir engineering to increase the safety of stored CO2.  He spends about a third of his time in Calgary, where he helps lead Carbon Engineering, a company developing technology to capture CO2 from ambient air.

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