Last week I attended a conference at the
Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities. Organized by the German
research council DFG academics from various disciplines gathered for three days
at the Climate Engineering Research Symposium in the old but nicely refurbished
building at the Gendarmenmarkt. The arches and pillars on the right side of the conference
room still show the bullet holes from the last war. The hanging glass ceiling floats
perfectly above the heads of the audience, with ever so tiny spaces between the
panels, illuminated from above. This example of (low-tech) engineering and
craftsmanship could be seen as a symbol of the floating fleet of aircraft deployed
to inject particles into the stratosphere to cool the planet.