How Climate Intervention can Safely and Quickly Cool the Planet_HPAC NYC Climate Week_Sep. 26, 2025

[Ron Baiman]

Dear Colleagues,

A final edited recording of the 2025 HPAC NYC Climate Week event is not up on the HPAC YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/mz2_mRqHZuw

Title: How Climate Intervention can Safely, Effectively, Quickly and inexpensively Cool the Planet 

Delay in action to limit climate pollution has allowed end of century scenarios to prematurely initiate. Earth systems have begun to degrade and once degradation begins it does not self-restore unless the warming that caused it is removed. Degradation comes with reduction and reversal of Earth systems’ emissions sequestration that has already begun, and has the capacity to dwarf humankind’s total emissions in the very near term. This means our current climate culture’s 1.5 degree C above normal warming limit is now too warm and we must restore our climate back to within the natural variation of our Earth systems’ evolution at less than 1 degree C warming above normal. We must do this before these systems become so degraded that collapses become irreversible. To accomplish this and prevent, quoting Hobbes: "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short" existential futures for much of humanity, emergency implementation of The Climate Triad Approach - Cool, Reduce, Remove - is required. As the point of no return could be as soon as mid-century, we must quickly cool our planet to give us time to reduce and draw down GHGs at a large enough scale to stabilize the climate and begin to regenerate nature. This will require net-zero emissions and removing vast amounts of legacy greenhouse gases from our atmosphere and oceans. This event focuses on the highest priority near-term cooling, or “climate intervention”, aspect of The Climate Triad approach that must be accomplished in a short time or all other actions may become moot. “Climate intervention” refers to additional ways to seek to counter or counterbalance climate change induced effects and impacts that involve: (1) reflecting solar radiation or modifying long wave radiation, (2) are global or hemispheric in scope and (3) have to potential be deployed at scale within the next 20 years. Speakers: Ron Baiman, Co-Founder and Convening Coordinator, Healthy Planet Action Coalition Bill Blecker, Chair, Education Committee, Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture Aria McKenna, Founding Member - Healthy Pl anet Action Coalition, Writer/Producer/Host - Revolution Earth & Saving Planet Us @ Global Cooling Productions Rafe Pomerance, Distinguished Senior Arctic Policy Fellow, Woodwell Climate Research Center Jake Schwartz, Campaigns Manager, Chesapeake Climate Action Network Herb Simmens, Co-Founder, Healthy Planet Action Coalition Event by: Healthy Planet Action Coalition Program: Our event will be composed of two panels of three speakers, and then a single panel of all six, all addressing the issue of why near-term climate intervention is now necessary to supplement GHG emission reduction and draw down policies. Moderator (Ron Baiman) will introduce the panels and each of the speakers in the following order. For the first panel: 1) Bill Blecker will welcome attendees to the Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture, pass the hat,and speak about climate organizing, 2) Aria McKenna will speak about real hope for a safe climate, and 3) Herb Simmens will talk about the climate policy triad. Each speaker will speak for about 10 minutes and this will be followed by about 20 minutes of questions from the audience. After a 10 minute bathroom break, the second panel consisting of: 4) Rafe Pomerance on climate intervention and an upper limit metric to sea-level rise, 5) Ron Baiman on near-term climate cooling and 6) Jake Schwartz on federal and NGO climate intervention politics, will convene. This panel will follow a similar schedule. For the remaining time the floor will be thrown open for questions.

Thank you to the organizers/presenters, BSEC, and as always Lucinda for editing!

Best,

Ron

--

Healthy Planet Action Coalition

YouTube Channel

@HPACoalition  (Bluesky and Twitter/X)

 Addressing the Urgent Need for Direct Climate Cooling: Rationale and Options

Baiman et al. 2024. Oxford Open Climate Change

An Open Letter to the IMO Supporting Maritime Transport that Cools the Atmosphere While Preserving Air Quality Benefits. Baiman et al. 2024. Oxford Open Climate Change

[Ron Baiman]

*now up on the HPAC YouTube channel*

Sent from my iPhone

On Oct 8, 2025, at 2:44 PM, Ron Baiman <rpba...@gmail.com> wrote:



[Ron Baiman]

Presentation (accompanying Baiman talk on near-term cooling): https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1JQHyGudqqSrqtSfFEAZRaEW-eProPE3Y/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=116465941111195452408&rtpof=true&sd=true

[Ron Baiman]

Presentation (accompanying Baiman talk on near-term cooling): https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1JQHyGudqqSrqtSfFEAZRaEW-eProPE3Y/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=116465941111195452408&rtpof=true&sd=true

Sent from my iPhone

On Oct 8, 2025, at 3:55 PM, Ron Baiman <rpba...@gmail.com> wrote:

*now up on the HPAC YouTube channel*

[Jan Umsonst]

Hi all, that is exactly the framing that will pave the way to our extinction as it implies emission reductions are secondary as we can easily and cheaply cool the climate down so why bother with emission reductions?

Framing is all!

And this headline is the perfect foundation for catastrophe: "How Climate Intervention can Safely, Effectively, Quickly and inexpensively Cool the Planet" 

There is a reason why the experts on the earth system warn from solar radiation management as the risks are unknown...

All the best

Jan

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[H simmens]

Hi Jan,

I think your comment is right on point. And as the person who suggested the title - which no one involved with the program objected to I might add - I take responsibility. 

What the title should have done was to substitute ‘the climate triad’ for climate intervention. Which I of all people should have known to suggest as I was the one who initially came up with the term climate triad some years ago. 

I think my motivation was to contrast the HPAC position with the overly cautious neutral approach to direct climate cooling that virtually every established entity in the field takes. But I clearly went too far and none of my colleagues chose to restrain me. 

Mea Culpa!

Herb

Herb Simmens
Author of A Climate Vocabulary of the Future

“A SciencePoem and an Inspiration.” Kim Stanley Robinson
@herbsimmens
HerbSimmens.com

On Oct 9, 2025, at 8:51 AM, Jan Umsonst <j.o.u...@gmail.com> wrote:



[rob...@rtulip.net]

Dear Jan,

 

Emission reduction is secondary to climate intervention when judged against near-term risk.

 

In terms of radiative forcing, new emissions add roughly 0.035 W/m² of additional heating each year, whereas planetary darkening (albedo loss) is adding around 0.2 W/m². That means albedo collapse is currently causing over five times more heating than emissions.

 

By Pareto logic, we must focus most on the factor driving 80% of the problem, while not abandoning the other 20%. To do otherwise is to base priorities on emotion and habit rather than reason and evidence.

 

This is not an argument for “why bother with emission reductions.” Long-term, emissions reduction is indispensable for restoring planetary balance. But in the short-term, emissions cuts alone cannot affect tipping points; only rapid cooling interventions can.

 

Framing the issue in this way allows us to keep both goals intact: Intervention first, for immediate planetary survival; Emission reduction next, for long-term stability.

 

Regards

 

Robert Tulip

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/healthy-planet-action-coalition/CAB4R-6cW-Jxj8bj-WU-03M68rF3Y75Huwtjp_zTOJxQFk98ZmQ%40mail.gmail.com.

[Tom Goreau]

You can’t only consider only the short term impacts of long-term threats, you need to integrate them over their lifetimes to compare apples and oranges.

 

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[Aria Mckenna]

I believe I have made these exact same concerns quite clear many times. I also suggested a different title to the event, but did not get any response. 

In fact, perhaps this is a perfect time to reiterate some of the framing that I believe will help us immensely in making our point....

I think it's really important to work within the environmental community's current framing to help flip the narrative and expand our conversations about earth, science and how our understanding of a warming planet has changed since the paris climate Accord.

1) We need to focus on a Net-Negative strategy asap! 

(Net-neutral has been getting pushback from the environmental community as perpetuating greenwashing. 

Thinking that net-zero will save us in our current predicament is essentially wish-washing!)

- Many Climate activists have never heard that we have passed 520 ppm greenhouse gas equivalent! This is the number we need to be focusing on. Not only carbon dioxide to reinforce our message.

- if someone wants to add James Hanson's number that includes planetary darkening, indeed all the better.

2) A warming planet leads to more warming. With so many ecosystems, quickly approaching tipping points and lives being lost right now... We need a strategy that addresses ALL the causes of warming.

Human emissions, feedback loops, AND Planetary darkening 

- natural emissions are likely exceeding human emissions currently because of our warming planet. 

(Explain feedback loops) Melting permafrost and more forest fires lead to more carbon dioxide and more methane in the atmosphere... while also reducing nature's capacity to restore a safe climate. 

3) We need to restore nature's capacity to ABSORB (or DRAW-DOWN) greenhouse gases. 

- this requires us to reflect heat through planetary brightening, along with a host of nature based solutions to increase carbon sequestration while ending deforestation. 

4) The paris climate accord has failed. We need triage to get us back on track. 

Warming is escalating dangerously toward the point of no return. 

We can restore a safe climate! 

- But only with a holistic strategy based on the climate triad ... eventually restoring safe greenhouse gas levels in the atmosphere. 

All of these points are the spirit we had behind founding this organization to begin with. It feels like so much of our framing has slipped off script. But I do not feel like my voice has been heard when I have tried to make a case for this.

I really did try to focus our messaging on these issues, which I do believe will have much more traction within the climate community. 

We will have far more influence with higher ups when it comes to supporting our cause when they feel safe in our messaging to reach their constituents.

Science alone will not win this cause, because if no one hears it, nothing will be done to support it. 

I did speak with someone with a professional branding agency, the other day about helping us to get behind some unified messaging. She is going to check to see whether they would be able to offer any services for a discounted or pro Bono rate for the time being until we have enough funding.  

Right now I feel like we are a bit all over the place. But we are also elevating our ability to be seen. 

Climate activists can and should be our friend in this.If we are going to be effective. But we need to be respectful of their concerns, while validating and adding to their current framing.

I do hope that we can all get on the same page around some accessible and easier to understand language.

(Please excuse typos and talk to text! 😆 - Sacrificing email perfection to optimize productivity and health!)

Warmest Thanks For Everything You Do,
Aria McKenna
Brand: "Saving Planet Us"
🙏🥰🩵🌏💦🐋🫒🦋🙌

Writer, Producer, Climate Communicator
Global Cooling Productions
www.GlobalCoolingProductions.com

Creator
Revolution Earth
(Romantic Cli-fi Thriller - w/ a touch of Action/Adventure/Futuristic Fantasy for TV in Development)

Connect on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aria-mckenna

IMDB:
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm3994260/?ref_=ext_shr

Watch My 'BECOMING THE CHANGE' Roundtable at:
https://youtube.com/watch?v=C472MxNDzZM&si=pPYMnQW0YxCPaTUH

Learn more about the 'Climate Triad', a holistic approach to Climate Restoration at Healthy Planet Action Coalition:
www.HealthyPlanetAction.org

https://www.greentv.com/aboutus
   

[Ron Baiman]

Dear Jan,

Hopefully you’ve been able to catch some

of the presentations and discussion or at least my slides. You will see that throughout we emphasized the triad. Herb’s title won out in a vote for titles among the organizers. Speaking for myself I didn’t vote for my own title suggestion as Herb’s already had a second and I liked it.  I think it actually well served the purpose of bringing out some  strong opponents to intervention whom I think greatly enhanced our discussion.  Sometimes to get your point across in a crowded field you have to sharpen it to just the essential difference! 

Best,

Ron 

Sent from my iPhone

On Oct 9, 2025, at 8:07 AM, H simmens <hsim...@gmail.com> wrote:

Hi Jan,

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[rob...@rtulip.net]

Dear Tom,

The question you raise — the balance between short- and long-term factors, cooling versus decarbonisation — highlights a deep tension between effectiveness and coherence. Your argument stresses coherence of policy, which is laudable, but it risks excluding major stakeholders and therefore undermining short-term effectiveness. Keynes’ reminder that “in the long run we are all dead” applies here with particular force.

This raises a fundamental question: is the main goal progressive political victory, or slowing climate change? Many people equate the two, but that link is questionable. It seems clear that solar geoengineering alone could slow climate change, while emission reduction alone could not. A pivot toward geoengineering could buy the time needed to study and scale durable carbon solutions, while also opening the door to alliances with affected industries who have both resources and influence.

If the primary goal is to reverse climate change, then the most urgent short-term task is to restore planetary reflectivity, since albedo loss is currently the dominant driver of additional heating. Yet albedo is entirely absent from the IPCC policy agenda. This omission suggests climate policy is being shaped more by politics than by science, and it raises doubts about the wisdom of aligning our advocacy too closely with the IPCC as a political movement.

In this unsatisfactory context, insisting that cooling allies must sign up in advance to a full long-term scientific agenda risks being counterproductive — especially if it excludes the industries most directly impacted by heat, who also possess the means to act. A more pragmatic stance would be to build a broad coalition around near-term cooling, through an Albedo Accord, while encouraging ongoing research into the longer-term pathway for carbon.

 

Regards

 

Robert Tulip

[Tom Goreau]

Long term cooling is just as important, and much cheaper, than short term cooling, and both are equally needed for different time scales.

 

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/planetary-restoration/038301dc3936%2463a7c9b0%242af75d10%24%40rtulip.net.

[Tom Goreau]

You constantly frame this as “Either-Or” “only one choice” when we need both!

 

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/planetary-restoration/BY3PR13MB49941CBB7439CD4B5C69F636DDEEA%40BY3PR13MB4994.namprd13.prod.outlook.com.

[Mark Haubner]

My thought precisely, Tom, except I'm much more of an "all-and" person at this point; from billions of small efforts plus large-scale policy swathes, all hands on deck right now. 

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/healthy-planet-action-coalition/BY3PR13MB4994DF01503428BF549CF3E2DDEEA%40BY3PR13MB4994.namprd13.prod.outlook.com.

[Aria Mckenna]

Our overarching goal should emphasize safety. 

A focus only on cooling ONLY, completely disregards the many toxic side effects of our current industrial complex, while also setting us up in a combative stance against widespread current understanding. 

It is completely unnecessary and counterproductive to focus on this either or framing. Counterproductive for climate communications and counterproductive for the safety of our planet and people and animals who live on it. 

We have had this same discussion so many times, and honestly, I have grown weary of it. And yet I can guarantee you that if we ignore the very valid concerns of climate activists, we will fail to win the essential political battle for our cause. 

HPAC was expressly founded on a holistic framing that integrates the importance of cooling as part of an essential element tied to the climate triad. 

As I recall, Jon Nissen's conversations in PRAG which were expressly focused on cooling, was exactly the reason we decided to start a new organization.. to focus on the TRIAD. While cooling is an essential part of that triad, it must not stand alone. 

Our initial steering circle was very clear on this mission, it has been very disheartening to see so many conversations straying away from this very essential understanding.

(Please excuse typos and talk to text! 😆 - Sacrificing email perfection to optimize productivity and health!)

Warmest Thanks For Everything You Do,
Aria McKenna
Brand: "Saving Planet Us"
🙏🥰🩵🌏💦🐋🫒🦋🙌

Writer, Producer, Climate Communicator
Global Cooling Productions
www.GlobalCoolingProductions.com

Creator
Revolution Earth
(Romantic Cli-fi Thriller - w/ a touch of Action/Adventure/Futuristic Fantasy for TV in Development)

Connect on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aria-mckenna

IMDB:
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm3994260/?ref_=ext_shr

Watch My 'BECOMING THE CHANGE' Roundtable at:
https://youtube.com/watch?v=C472MxNDzZM&si=pPYMnQW0YxCPaTUH

Learn more about the 'Climate Triad', a holistic approach to Climate Restoration at Healthy Planet Action Coalition:
www.HealthyPlanetAction.org

https://www.greentv.com/aboutus
   

[Tom Goreau]

Thanks! I should have said we need all sinks on all time scales simultaneously!

[Tom Goreau]

And that includes temperature sinks by reflection and evapotranspiration

 

 

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/planetary-restoration/BY3PR13MB49945D2C2DB945979F2079E8DDEEA%40BY3PR13MB4994.namprd13.prod.outlook.com.

[rob...@rtulip.net]

Hi Aria,

Thank you for again setting out your forthright position. I genuinely sympathise with much of your argument. My main concern, however, is that it is not politically practical.

Why do you think Donald Trump won office campaigning on climate denial, and then proceeded to dismantle U.S. government support for climate science? It was because he—and his voters and funders—perceive arguments for systemic economic transformation as tantamount to demanding a communist revolution, a direct attack on the capitalist order. His policies were designed to put such arguments in their place, to demonstrate where real economic and political power resides, and to underline that capitalism will not tolerate what it regards as an existential assault.

If we are serious about climate progress, especially in the U.S. but also in other countries where voters back hydrocarbon expansion, then a different strategy is needed. A temporary focus on albedo restoration, rather than systemic economic transformation, offers a way forward. Such a policy can:

• achieve rapid progress where it is technically possible,
• build industrial alliances and bipartisan understanding around cooling,
• avoid the polarisation that currently paralyses all climate action.

This approach fits squarely within the HPAC climate triad. We should understand “accelerating emission reduction” not as a tribal demand for faster decarbonisation, but as a research programme into how GGR can ultimately scale beyond total emissions—within a capitalist framework, not in opposition to it.

What you describe as “a combative stance against widespread current understanding” is, in my view, essential. The decarbonisation ideology emerged from a Marxist class war critique of capitalism, and especially of its energy industries. This argument is detailed in my attached short essay, The Ideological Roots of Decarbonisation.  People of good will have been misled by the Big Lie that decarbonisation by itself is a climate policy. The decarbonisation ideology refuses to compare the relative impacts of albedo and GHGs on planetary heat, precisely because such analysis undermines their intellectual and scientific and political foundations.  Insisting that partners buy in to the whole ‘climate justice’ shebang is a recipe for failure and collapse.

It is pointless to say “do everything” when the cooling impacts of rival actions differ by many orders of magnitude. What is needed is clarity and a practical incremental policy:

place radiative forcing at the centre of climate strategy, and focus first on building support to restore planetary reflectivity.

 

Regards

 

Robert Tulip

 

From: planetary-...@googlegroups.com <planetary-...@googlegroups.com> On Behalf Of Aria Mckenna

Sent: Friday, 10 October 2025 5:39 AM
To: Mark Haubner <mhau...@gmail.com>

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/planetary-restoration/CALf2ri5ga1ksyVa_q82i1XAh2-hdNOFXC%2BOFXozuww5So6LHPA%40mail.gmail.com.