A rapport distinct published on Monday, written by UNEP’s Govindasamy Bala and eight independent experts, claimed that managing solar radiation is “the only option that could cool the planet in a few years”, while admitting that indefinite maintenance would cost tens of billions per year by cooling 1C.
“Climate change is taking the world into uncharted territory, and the search for all viable solutions is ongoing,” said UNEP Chief Scientist Andrea Hinwood. “However, all new technologies must be clearly understood and potential risks or impacts identified before being put into use.”
In terms of what these projects might look like in practice, Thred has already covered ‘cloud thinning,’ the process of spraying ocean salt vapor into clouds to reflect sunlight away from vulnerable regions of the sky. arctic, and potentially using moondust plumes at Earth’s first Langrage point to scatter photons across the universe.
The most logistically feasible method down this avenue is to spray reflective particles into the atmosphere from abundant sources such as sulfur. Even then, however, the idea is “full of scientific uncertainties and ethical issues”.
Scientists have yet to eliminate concerns surrounding a long list of potential dangers, such as damage to our ozone layer and ‘termination shock’ by which spraying particles into the atmosphere could trigger a concentrated explosion of dormant global warming. Needless to say, we need more research before proceeding.
By now, one can imagine that talk of distant technology and dubious research is music to the ears of the world’s most polluting corporations and governments. While we wait for any scientific breakthroughs to come, however, the reality is that radical systemic change is needed now to begin healing.