Avoiding a Climate Arms Race: Why We Need the Baruch Plan 2.0 for Climate Geoengineering

Speaker: Dr. Elizabeth Chalecki (Associate Professor of International Relations, University of Nebraska Omaha; 2022 Fulbright Research Chair, Fulbright Canada)

Date: 18 May 2022

Speaker Session Summary

SMA hosted a speaker session with Dr. Elizabeth L. Chalecki (Associate Professor of International Relations, University of Nebraska Omaha; 2022 Fulbright Research Chair, Fulbright Canada) as part of its SMA “Anticipating the Future Operational Environment” (AFOE) Speaker Series.

Increasing climate change caused by global warming is leading to more frequent floods, droughts, and loss of coastline among other environmental disasters. These environmental disasters are erratic and affect everyone. Dr. Chalecki commented that the only area experiencing cooling is in the North Atlantic Ocean, which is being cooled by melting Arctic ice sheets. One potential solution to stopping or reversing global warming is geoengineering or developing technologies that manipulate the natural environment. These technologies can potentially reflect sunlight out of the atmosphere or remove excess carbon dioxide. However, these technologies will need to be governed and overseen by comprehensive legislation, ensuring that they will not be weaponized. Dr. Chalecki argued that this can be achieved by creating a plan mirroring the Baruch Plan (1946), which attempted—and failed—to avoid a nuclear arms race after WWII.

A similar plan to Baruch Plan will potentially limit the weaponizing of geoengineering technologies before any country or actor tries. Weaponizing geoengineering technologies could give the ability to cause targeted drought, flooding, or other natural disasters to both state and non-state actors. Dr. Chalecki commented that these technologies should be taken as seriously as nuclear weapons because they are powerful, there are no counter-measures available, there is no defense against them, and there is no secrecy when they are used. Several experiments using geoengineered technology to decrease the rate of global warming have been carried out with mixed or inconclusive results. Other planned experiments have been stopped because of geopolitical issues. Dr. Chalecki emphasized that only way to measure geoengineered technologies effectiveness at keeping the earth from becoming dangerously warm is by continuing experimentation. 

Speaker Session Recording

Briefing Materials

Biography:

Elizabeth L. Chalecki is an Associate Professor of International Relations at the University of Nebraska Omaha, a Research Chair with Fulbright Canada, and a former Research Fellow in the Environmental Change & Security Program at the Woodrow Wilson Center. Her expertise lies in the areas of climate change and security, international environmental policy, and the intersection of science/technology and IR. Dr. Chalecki has authored groundbreaking research on geoengineering and just war, and has published over 25 books, articles, and book chapters on diverse topics such as climate change and Arctic security, environmental terrorism, climate change and international law, public perceptions of environmental issues, and water in outer space. She also serves as an environmental security subject matter expert for NATO.

She was a Visiting Mellon Scholar for Environmental Studies at Goucher College, and has taught at Boston College, Cal State Hayward and the Monterey Institute of International Studies, and worked for the Pacific Institute, Environment Canada, the U.S. Department of Commerce, and the Brookings Institution. She holds a Ph.D. in International Relations from the Fletcher School of Law & Diplomacy at Tufts University, and an M.Sc. in Environmental Geography from the University of Toronto.

This speaker session supported SMA’s Anticipating the Future Operational Environment (AFOE) project. For additional speaker sessions and project publications, please visit the AFOE project page.