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Would a massive shade between Earth and the sun help slow climate change?
Popular Science ^ | August 9, 2023 | BY JON KELVEY

Posted on 08/09/2023 3:28:36 AM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer

Some of the most exotic solutions to climate change are the various forms of geoengineering. Such proposals aim to reduce global warming by shrinking the amount of solar radiation that reaches Earth’s surface—by, say, injecting large amounts of sulfur dioxide or dust into the air to mimic the cooling effect of large volcanic eruptions. Or building catapults to launch lunar dust into orbit around Earth and intercept the sun’s rays in the space near our planet.

But University of Hawaii cosmologist István Szapudi has an even more far-out idea: place a 372,000-mile-wide sun shade tethered to a captured asteroid between Earth and the sun to reduce the amount of solar radiation reaching our planet by 1.7 percent. His analysis is agnostic to the shade’s shape, though he imagines it could be a circular shade made of triangular segments, able to open or close like flower petals to allow variable amounts of sunlight through.

“It’s not going to cast a sharp shadow,” Szapudi says. ”Maybe with a telescope you could notice that there is something in front of the sun. But other than that, it would just be that people would notice that the weather is a little bit better.”

He readily admits that this concept would require millions of dollars investment in just preliminary engineering studies to see if it is really possible. “Of course, it’s unrealistic to actually do this, so hopefully, we will slowly give up fossil fuels,” Szapudi says, citing a much more mainstream goal to curb a source of climate change. “But that’s a very long-term process.”

(Excerpt) Read more at popsci.com ...


TOPICS: Astronomy; Science; Weather
KEYWORDS: globalwarming; hoax; propaganda; socialism
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

“It’s not nice to fool with Mother Nature”

...Especially when a non-trivial fraction of the scientific community believes that Earth is entering a cool-down period.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-C98awWeO04


41 posted on 08/09/2023 4:53:28 AM PDT by Oscar in Batangas (An Honors Graduate from the Don Rickles School of Personal Verbal Intercourse)
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To: mewzilla

It’s only money....


42 posted on 08/09/2023 4:53:31 AM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer (The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money)
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To: imabadboy99

Just think. The people coming up with these ideas are “educated” and have degrees. Tells you everything about the quality of a college education nowadays.

…Or critical thinking. All the environmentalists have been saying forever that global warming, now “climate change”, has been Man’s Fault. Now it’s too much Sun? We are in the middle of a solar maximum cycle. With a shade like that in place what’s gonna happen when we are at the low point in the cycle?
Can that cause us to have an ice age?

He’s right about one thing- millions of dollars will be needed to study this, which will end up in the pockets of MORE scientists, and MORE politicians.
Another cash cow for them at our expense.


43 posted on 08/09/2023 4:55:43 AM PDT by telescope115 (I NEED MY SPACE!!! 🔭)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

Most of the dumbest people on this planet are highly educated.


44 posted on 08/09/2023 4:58:30 AM PDT by BlackbirdSST (Trump or Bust! Long live the Republic.)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer
These whack jobs are Godless. Their value systems are not grounded in something greater than them. Specifically, they base their decision making paradigm on science, which is something they created. In other words, their values and principles are self invented. In all their arrogance, they forget that a lot of science is unproven. Even established scientific laws need revision and constraints to stand the test of time.

That arrogance leads to unintended consequences. They should know that and completely avoid wasting their time on messing with the Earth’s climate. In a way, I think these scientists really are not scientists at all. The basis of all science is observation. They have not observed scientific disasters of the past and scaled the consequences to the size of the planet.

45 posted on 08/09/2023 4:58:51 AM PDT by ConservativeInPA (The Delay Trump’s trial, delay. Elect Trump President. Trump pardons himself. )
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

If they want something that might actually work, quit paving roads black. White might be too bright to drive on, but a lighter color than black would not heat up as much. Roads, roofs, and any other large surfaces exposed to sun light.

Seems like a pretty simple answer that might work, to me.


46 posted on 08/09/2023 4:59:23 AM PDT by weezel
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To: BlackbirdSST

White liberals are the dumbest people on the planet.

It is they who prove that White Supremacy is a myth.


47 posted on 08/09/2023 4:59:29 AM PDT by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer
Yes, and the shade is called, wait for it...

Clouds.

As the oceans warm, more water vapor is created which condense into clouds. The clouds in turn block sunlight and cool the oceans again.

It's a self-regulating system.

48 posted on 08/09/2023 5:01:11 AM PDT by Yo-Yo (Is the /Sarc tag really necessary? Pray for President Biden: Psalm 109:8)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

Would a massive shade between Earth and the sun help slow climate change? Which everyone knows is a fake issue designed to generate large grants to keep the supporters in the life style they would like to become accustomed to.

Other than that this nutty non-solution would surely increase the chance of, if not down right create, a new ice age. For which the only solution to stop is the massive burning of fossil fuels.


49 posted on 08/09/2023 5:01:27 AM PDT by PIF (They came for me and mine ... now its your turn)
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To: mewzilla

GOOD CATCH! These people live off of tax dollars because they have no useful real-world skills.


50 posted on 08/09/2023 5:03:24 AM PDT by telescope115 (I NEED MY SPACE!!! 🔭)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

Arrrgh ... the stupid, it hurts ... make it stop ...


51 posted on 08/09/2023 5:04:44 AM PDT by ByteMercenary (Cho Bi Dung and KamalHo are not my leaders.)
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To: ConservativeInPA

They are 21st Century snake oil salesmen.


52 posted on 08/09/2023 5:05:08 AM PDT by telescope115 (I NEED MY SPACE!!! 🔭)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

“... a 372,000-mile-wide sun shade...”

Think about that. 372 THOUSAND MILES. The circumference of the Earth is 25 thousand miles. If someone seriously proposed an idea that unrealistic where I worked they would have been escorted off the premises.


53 posted on 08/09/2023 5:06:31 AM PDT by Brooklyn Attitude (I went to bed on November 3rd 2020 and woke up in 1984.)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer
NO! NO! It’s humans causing the problem not the Sun! Time to send out the Hordes to demand he be fired, his bank account closed, blocked on X and other social media. And, and, give him a massive weggie!
54 posted on 08/09/2023 5:07:54 AM PDT by Lockbox (politicians, they all seemed like game show hosts to me.... Sting)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

István Szapudi

Rhymes with. .. Is da man stupid.


55 posted on 08/09/2023 5:15:41 AM PDT by 728b (Never cry over something that can not cry over you.)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

Chuckle-head “science”.
And some people claim the school system is not a joke.


56 posted on 08/09/2023 5:17:29 AM PDT by Montana_Sam (Truth lives.)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

So we could send Chris Christie into space?

Yes, please!!!


57 posted on 08/09/2023 5:24:28 AM PDT by airborne (Thank you Rush for helping me find FreeRepublic! )
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

I think that would be a bad idea. This man Istvan needs to lay off the weed.


58 posted on 08/09/2023 5:30:25 AM PDT by spincaster
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

Can we keep our cars now?


59 posted on 08/09/2023 5:36:46 AM PDT by Libloather (Why do climate change hoax deniers live in mansions on the beach?)
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To: 728b

Well played sir!


60 posted on 08/09/2023 5:37:42 AM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer (The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money)
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