Posted on 04/05/2018 7:32:56 AM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer
It sounds like the stuff of science fiction: the creation, using balloons or jets, of a manmade atmospheric sunshade to shield the most vulnerable countries in the global south against the worst effects of global warming.
But amid mounting interest in “solar geoengineering” – not least among western universities – a group of scientists from developing countries has issued a forceful call to have a greater say in the direction of research into climate change, arguing that their countries are the ones with most at stake.
Scientists have long known that manmade events like pollution in the atmosphere, smoke from forest fires and volcanic eruptions can create a cooling effect.
That has led scientists at Harvard University to propose their own experiment, which they call “stratospheric controlled perturbation effect”, or SCoPEx for short. It involves using a balloon to test the controversial proposition that aerosols released at a height of 20km in the Earth’s atmosphere can alter the reflective properties of cloud cover.
Now a dozen scholars, from countries including Bangladesh, Brazil, China, Ethiopia, India, Jamaica and Thailand, have joined the debate, arguing in the journal Nature that poor countries should take a lead in the field since they have most to gain or lose from the technology.
The solar geoengineering studies may be helped by a new $400,000 (£284,100) research project, the solar radiation management governance initiative (SRMGI), which is issuing a first call for scientists to apply for finance this week.
The initiative is financed by the Open Philanthropy Project, a foundation backed by Dustin Moskovitz, a co-founder of Facebook, and his wife, Cari Tuna.
(Excerpt) Read more at theguardian.com ...
The best response to a non-problem like global warming is to do nothing.
Massive crop failures and a billion people die...
The plan is not that totally far-fetched and can be safeguarded against the dire consequences you envision.
Blocking 100% of sunlight is neither feasible nor desired. The way to do this is with a swarm of smaller satellites which collectively block a small percentage of the total sunlight. This produces a small amount of cooling and if the satellites are in quickly decaying orbits reverses itself if they are not periodically replenished.
Blocking a very small percentage of sunlight would not even be noticeable from the ground.
Many advantages. If crop yields start to decline the warmists will have to admit that they didn't understand something. Maybe they will stop "correcting" the temperature record.
Plus, if GW is real and this works, there would be no need to reduce carbon emissions oh earth. Huge benefit. Of course political pressure would stay high. But there are real benefits to more CO2, and we would be able to reap them.
Best of all, there are very few nations who could launch and manage a swarm of satellites like this. The US would be one, which would cement our position as a world leader even more.
Burn fossil fuels.
Stupid, stupid, stupid. It will go nowhere. This scheme is nothing more than a clever way to suck up all that grant money, and then declare that the idea is not workable.
Back in the 70’s when the next ice age was going to happen, “scientists” came up with the idea to cover the polar ice caps with coal dust to absorb the heat from the sun.
Does that mean climate sciencists will stop spraying stuff in the skies to make fake cloud cover *-?
By fixing a “problem” that doesn’t exist, they will create a problem that doesn’t have to come into being.
And people laughed at him.
I’m PERFECTLY FINE with active countermeasures against global warming, if we really think it’s a problem - for this is how an ADVANCED SOCIETY deals with problems - not by shutting down its coal plants and installing solar panels that use more energy to produce and maintain than they ever generate.
But then again, I understand the Left. This is the LAST THING that they will permit.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.