Joshua Weinberg

Primary Convener:
Joshua Weinberg, American Geophysical Union

As accelerating warming pushes Earth’s stabilizing systems toward tipping points, this session asks a hard scientific question: given where we are today, what must the scientific community do to build a rigorous, responsibly governed research agenda for preventing catastrophic climate risks and cascades? Building on the argument that our current climate toolkit – mitigation, adaptation, and carbon removal – cannot by itself keep us safely clear of physical thresholds, the panel will surface concrete opportunities and guardrails for interventions research (e.g., efforts to stabilize systems across cryosphere, atmosphere, and biosphere dynamics) without advocacy for any single approach. This session is designed as a dialogue, welcoming constructive disagreement and skeptical perspectives on climate intervention research. The discussion will be framed around several key first principles for a research agenda, including: (1) The tension surrounding uncertainty: is it a justification for careful research or for avoidance and precaution? (2) The necessity of operating within a risk-risk framework for managing the climate’s future. and (3) The overarching goal of maximizing harm reduction to reduce the odds of irreversible change and catastrophe. Attendees will leave with a clearer map of priority questions, research efforts, and norms that could guide an open, precautionary, and scientifically grounded prevention agenda.

Index Terms
1620 Climate dynamics
1622 Earth system modeling
1630 Impacts of global change
1635 Oceans

Cross-Listed:
SY - Science and Society
A - Atmospheric Sciences
H - Hydrology
GC - Global Environmental Change