Public attitudes and emotions toward novel carbon removal methods in alternative sociotechnical scenarios - IOPscience

[Greg Rau]

https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/ad5dd0

"We find that the scenario condition significantly impacted perceptions of OAE, with participants preferring its implementation within a bottom–up, planned economy scenario, and rejecting scenarios which most closely resembled the status quo. There were no significant differences between scenarios for DACCS, suggesting that the technology may be more flexible across alternative sociotechnical arrangements. OAE arouses more negative emotions, particularly worry about impacts on ocean ecosystems, whereas DACCS arouses more hope. We found that climate worry is associated with stronger emotions—both positive and negative—toward both techniques, thus carbon dioxide removal (CDR) could be polarising for the most climate-worried, likely due to tensions between climate urgency and concerns about deterring emissions reductions. The most important criteria for future CDR deployment were deemed to be biodiversity, durability, and cost, with a strong discourse around the current cost-of-living crisis.”

GR - As for cost, this is my current favorite quote:

“We’ll go down in history as the first society that wouldn't save itself because it wasn't cost effective.” – Kurt Vonnegut

But actually, history is strewn with extinct civilizations that apparently failed to change behavior when it was advantageous to do so:  https://www.amazon.com/Collapse-Societies-Choose-Succeed-Revised/dp/0143117009

Will we be any different?