Ask a technologist to tackle a problem and their instinctive reaction is likely to be: there must be a technological fix for that. So it is with climate change, as technologists devise ever more inventive solutions to combat global warming.
We can sow clouds with fine particles to block out the sun and cool the planet. We can invest in experimental nuclear fusion that generates energy by pushing atoms together, rather than splitting them apart. We can genetically modify coral reefs to make them more adaptable to warming seas. Reinventing the future is so much more fun than succumbing to the stop-the-clock rhetoric of other parts of the environmental movement.
Bill Gates, the billionaire philanthropist and Microsoft co-founder, has emerged as the most eloquent champion of such techno-optimism. In his book, How To Avoid A Climate Disaster, he argues we must invent and deploy breakthrough technologies if we are to stop pumping 51bn tons of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere each year.