![]() ![]() Scientists say this lack of concrete information and consensus is a critical failure that must be corrected with new studies. Solar geoengineering with aerosols runs head into the fact that aerosols, like ozone layer-destroying chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) spray aerosols, have often been a contributor to climate change. Why Do Scientists Want to Study This Now? Almost any everyday substance can be aerosolized in the right conditions-the term is simply any airborne fine particulate that can float in clouds like a gas. The meteor strike that might have killed the dinosaurs blanketed the Earth in a layer of aerosol dust. Remember the 2010 eruption of an Icelandic volcano that blocked the entire sky all the way into Europe? That was an atmospheric aerosol event. While the mechanism of an aerosol solar geoengineering study is simple-the physical structure of aerosol particles literally blocks and scatters light-the reality is more complex. ![]() Everything You Need to Know About the Sun.Carbon capture, where emissions are taken and sequestered beneath Earth’s surface, is another major form of geoengineering. One example is cloud seeding, where airplanes flush clouds with particulate matter in order to coalesce into rain. Geoengineering is a blanket term for technologies that try to alter Earth’s physical qualities on the largest scale possible. ![]() What is solar geoengineering, anyway, and why are scientists suddenly interested in-and concerned by-the concept? Solar Geoengineering, Explained government to spend at least $100 million to study solar geoengineering, a controversial technology. This week, the influential National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) also released a new report urging the U.S. Gates and other private donors are backing Harvard University’s Solar Geoengineering Research Program, which will soon launch a new study researching the efficacy of blocking sunlight from reaching Earth’s surface. Aerosols are the gaseous clouds formed by particles of many common materials.īill Gates, who recently suggested the world should eat 100 percent synthetic beef and said bitcoin is bad for the planet, has set his sights on a new foe: the sun.This process involves seeding the stratosphere with aerosols to reflect sunlight away.Bill Gates and Harvard want scientists to study solar geoengineering.It cited “risks of changing precipitation and ozone concentrations and potentially reductions in biodiversity” as some of the main drawbacks to SAI. The report predicted, however, that there would be “diverging regional interests” and warned that “the concerns, sovereignties, and experiences of indigenous peoples may particularly be at risk”. It also said the practice “might motivate individuals to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions” in the long-term and lead to a reduction in the amount of SAI that needs to be carried out. The IPCC report concluded that there was “high agreement” that aircrafts could, after some modifications, carry out the complex operation. Is it feasible?Ī report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) suggests the technology could be limited by factors such as “public resistance, ethical concerns and potential impacts on sustainable development”. Scientists also say the interference could cause a change in ocean currents and lead to more freak weather events. Concerns have been raised that mismanagment of such a project could benefit some countries more than others, since the reduced sunlight could devastate agriculture in some of the world’s most impoverished regions. ![]()
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