Massive removal of carbon from the atmosphere — also known as negative emissions, carbon drawdown, or regeneration — could be a cornerstone of either dystopian or radically utopian futures. Some of the dystopian ones are well known: vast conversion of land to plantations for biofuels with carbon capture and storage, displacing people from the land, destroying habitats, and spiking food prices.

But given what we know about climate change in 2018, it’s not enough to protest against dystopian versions of carbon removal. Too much warming is already locked in. We need a radically utopian way of removing carbon.

If we buy into thinking of carbon removal technologies as substitutes for reducing carbon output, then industrial interests have already won: they have set the narrative and the framing, where carbon capture exists so that they can continue to emit. But we should demand more from these technologies.