{"id":39,"date":"2020-01-10T23:19:01","date_gmt":"2020-01-10T23:19:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/technosphere\/?p=39"},"modified":"2021-02-22T20:58:07","modified_gmt":"2021-02-22T20:58:07","slug":"the-teleological-feedback","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/technosphere\/2020\/01\/10\/the-teleological-feedback\/","title":{"rendered":"The Teleological Feedback"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

January\n6, 2020\/David P. Turner<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Earth system scientists commonly refer to feedbacks<\/a> in the climate system.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A feedback loop within a system means that a change in one part or component of the system induces a change in another component that either amplifies (positive feedback) or dampens (negative feedback) the initial change.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The classic positive feedback related to global climate change and the Earth system is that warming of the global climate caused by increasing greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere results in reduction in snow cover and sea ice, which causes less reflectance of solar radiation, and hence more absorption of solar radiation by Earth\u2019s surface, and more warming.  A potential negative feedback is if warming increases evaporation, which causes more clouds, which reflect more solar radiation, and hence cool the climate.  Most of the feedbacks in the climate system are positive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By burning fossil fuels and pushing up the atmospheric\nCO2<\/sub> concentration, humanity is unintentionally warming the global\nclimate and inducing multiple climate system feedbacks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A big question is whether humanity can collectively begin\nto purposefully impact the Earth system in the form of a negative feedback to\nclimate change, i.e. begin to slow down the rise in greenhouse gas\nconcentrations and even begin to draw down those concentrations.  This willful action would be a teleological feedback\nto our unintended warming of the Earth system by way of greenhouse gas\nemissions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Teleological feedback. The segmented line indicates the potential for a deliberate societal influence on the Earth system.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A disturbing paradox about current climate change is\nthat by increasing the atmospheric CO2<\/sub> concentration, humanity has\nshown that we are the equivalent of a geological force.  But humanity thus far is not organized enough\nto purposefully<\/strong> shape the Earth system. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What we don\u2019t have is much political will to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, nor the right international institutions to manage a global scale response.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Political will comes from lots of sources, but maybe the most likely source is that as more and more people experience extreme weather events, sea level rise, and the other impacts of climate change, they will support mitigation efforts (e.g. a carbon tax).  Australia in 2020<\/a> appears to be a test case for this proposition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also, we might hope for political leaders who understand\nthe situation and are committed to doing something about it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Regarding global environmental governance<\/a>, the size and strength of relevant international institutions are incommensurate with the challenge of global environmental change.  At the very least, a stronger United Nations Environmental Program or a new U.N. World Environmental Organization is needed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Recommended Reading<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lenton, T. 2016. Earth System Science: A very short introduction<\/a>. Oxford University Press.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Recommended Audio\/Video<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Joni Mitchell, They Paved Paradise<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

January 6, 2020\/David P. Turner Earth system scientists commonly refer to feedbacks in the climate system.  A feedback loop within a system means that a change in one part or component of the system induces a change in another component … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9521,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1390634],"tags":[1394032,97135,880,1393966,1389001,1390215,1389896],"class_list":["post-39","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-short-form","tag-earth","tag-earth-system-science","tag-feedback","tag-planetary","tag-technosphere","tag-teleological","tag-teleology"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Teleological Feedback - Taming the Technosphere<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/technosphere\/2020\/01\/10\/the-teleological-feedback\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Teleological Feedback - Taming the Technosphere\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"January 6, 2020\/David P. 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