The concept of “solar geoengineering,” or shooting millions of dollars’ worth of particles into the atmosphere to lessen the warming of the Sun, has long been viewed as a last option for dealing with a growing global crisis.
The brand new Yorker reports that in spite of widespread opposition, more and more researchers are beginning to seriously think about the possibility of meddling with whole ecosystems at the same time.
Just last month, the White House announced a five – year study program to study geoengineering, indicating that the concept has gotten out of the realm of science fiction amid a period of rapidly rising temperatures and failed global warming targets.
Humanity is on the brink of disintegration, despite the fact that there is a stop to all non – renewable fuel consumption. The Paris Agreement, a legally binding global treaty on global warming, was ratified by 196 nations which pledged to do everything in their power to restrict climate change to as near as you possibly can to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
However achieving the stated goal has proven nearly impossible. Based on an October report by UN Climate Change, our efforts to bring down greenhouse gas emissions were inadequate to attain the objective by the end of the century.
With such a dreadful future, scientists are more and more turning to geoengineering as a last option.
In the same way, releasing aerosolised sulfur dioxide into the atmosphere may have very similar effects, because particles released from a large volcano have been found to result in temperatures to drop.
Industry experts continue to be unsure if these particles might color the ground beneath and cool it down, though it is definitely possible – especially on a global scale – which might occur.
Temperature variations across the globe, for instance, could result in severe weather events, like flooding, which may happen unexpectedly. As The brand new Yorker points out, a rise in local reservoirs may even permit diseases like malaria to spread.
And then there is the point that geoengineering initiatives by a single nation might have huge and potentially catastrophic political ramifications.
“there is no governance mechanism which might determine this and that not one is plausible,” said Frank Biermann, a political scientist at Utrecht University. “You would need to decide on the duration, on the amount, and in case there’re disagreements, we want a bit more here, a little less here’, all these require adjudication,” she stated.
In a nutshell, it is a very controversial idea that might never get off the ground, since everybody would need to agree to it.
For example, the one time scientists actively tried to test the concept, it was shut down almost instantly, with activist organizations composing a letter that even popular environmentalist Greta Thunberg signed.
Global leaders are becoming desperate as they look down the barrel of a climate disaster of unprecedented magnitude in spite of the opposition.
“Geoengineering as a feasible solution for this disaster will certainly turn into the sole choice of last resort in case we as a worldwide society keep on the path we’ve been going,” environmentalist Anote Tong, former president of Kiribati, a tiny island country which has been significantly impacted by sea level rise, stated The brand new Yorker.
Think humankind will ever have to turn to geoengineering or some other extreme measure? It is not unlikely, given our recent history.
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