As world leaders failed to come to a substantive, enforceable agreement on emissions reductions to address climate change, an unofficial sub-theme covered at the summit appears to have gathered steam.

You won't find geoengineering on the official agenda at the climate summit in Copenhagen. But for anyone watching the trajectory of the climate change debate, the controversial notion of intentionally modifying the planet or its climate system to counteract the effects of global warming is becoming increasingly difficult to ignore. Attracting almost no attention, Russia may have already conducted the first-ever geoengineering field trial. And if the climate talks at Copenhagen fail, it could give geoengineering advocates the lucky break they've been waiting for.

While it hasn't been featured in the formal negotiations, geoengineering has been a significant sub-theme in Copenhagen--the subject of numerous side events, protests, and a documentary film screening. Robert Greene's Owning the Weather, which aired here Sunday night in a venue off the spectacularly lit City Hall Square, paints the longstanding history of human attempts to control and modify the weather--through anything ranging from rain dances to quack cloud seeding efforts and hail cannon fusillades. The film ends with the observation that we are moving ever closer to making this ancient dream (or nightmare, if you prefer) a reality.

Owning the Weather (preview)

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The idea of addressing climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions appears to have hit an impasse in the Senate.

Two powerful Senate panels are at odds over which will be the lead author on perhaps the most critical piece of the global warming bill.

Both the Environment and Public Works Committee and the Finance Committee are staking claim to the distribution of what is projected to be hundreds of billions of dollars in emission allowances for a range of industries, adding another layer of complexity to a legislative debate already rife with trap doors.

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What does the face of the emerging Green Industry look like?

Forget about a future filled with wind farms and hydrogen cars. The Pentagon's top weaponeer says he has a radical solution that would stop global warming now -- no matter how much oil we burn...

Teller and Wood simply took a dreamy idea and engineered it for real life. They determined that tiny particles -- only one-tenth the diameter of the smallest dust mote visible to the human eye -- would be most effective at scattering sunlight. These particles could be engineered out of some nonreactive metallic substance, such as aluminum, or generated from sulfur, a substance readily available as a byproduct of oil refining. As Wood and Teller pointed out, cooling the entire planet with aerosolized particles would cost only $1 billion a year -- nearly 100 times cheaper than the cost of cutting CO2 emissions. What was not to like?

This concept is a golden goose for the oil industry. Not only are the levels of energy consumption maintained, but an oil byproduct is used to mitigate their environmental impact!

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