It seems safe to say that our Politicians are not up to the job of sorting out our warming planet so we are living in hope that Science as usual comes up with a way to get us out of the hole we have got ourselves into before we all fry or float away on flood water and Harvard have come up with a plan, well a sort of plan anyway.
Using the notion that our Star is going to continue beaming down sunshine on us whatever we do, they are preparing to test dimming the sun by sending a balloon into the skies over the southwest United States and releasing a chalky material to bounce the sun’s heat back into space.
Basing their idea on historic massive volcanic eruptions which throw sulphur dioxide gas into the stratosphere which then bounces back so much of the sun’s light that the Earth’s average temperature dips.
Sounds good in theory but other scientists are warning that while the sulphur dioxide does cut the sun rays from hitting the ground, it also boosts levels of harmful ultraviolet light because of its effect on the ozone layer, which normally protects us from this radiation.
The first tests in the new year will release ice into the stratosphere from the balloon and then move onto small amounts of calcium carbonate dust, and possibly other materials to study their ability to bounce back sunlight.
The additional problem is if Science does find a way to stop the Earth warming, politicians will take it as a red light to not do anything to stop Global Warming and reduce the impact of CO2 levels in the atmosphere.
We have got ourselves in a mess and the only solution is to drastically cut the amount of emissions we spew into the atmosphere but at least Science is trying to do something which is more than the politicians who are doing less than butkus.
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