Why the World’s First Solar Geoengineering Test Is So Controversial

This lab is planning to test the world's first solar geoengineering experiment in the field. Here's why that's so controversial.
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Solar geoengineering, an idea that picked up steam over a decade ago when a Nobel Prize winning scientist called for more research on this climate engineering intervention, is back in the news. The idea made it into the 2019 UN Environment Assembly agenda and was used to kickstart a global conversation surrounding the contentious response to the climate crisis.

With growing urgency and scientific interest, a team at Harvard University took up the charge to investigate solar geoengineering in a fully fledged research program.

Solar geoengineering involves a plan that would disperse particles into the stratosphere and could ultimately reduce global temperatures by bouncing the Sun's rays back into space.

However, this type of geoengineering intervention would not fix the root cause, which is the rising funnel of greenhouse gas emissions that are getting trapped in our atmosphere.

Learn more about solar geoengineering, its potential, and the controversy surrounding the conversation on this episode of Focal point.

#SolarGeoengineering #Harvard #Climate #Environment #ClimateChange #Science #Seeker #FocalPoint

Read More:
IPCC Special Report: Global Warming of 1.5 °C
https://www.ipcc.ch/sr15/
“An IPCC special report on the impacts of global warming of 1.5 °C above pre-industrial levels and related global greenhouse gas emission pathways, in the context of strengthening the global response to the threat of climate change, sustainable development, and efforts to eradicate poverty.”

Geoengineer the Planet? More Scientists Now Say It Must Be an Option
https://e360.yale.edu/features/geoeng...
“Once seen as spooky sci-fi, geoengineering to halt runaway climate change is now being looked at with growing urgency. A spate of dire scientific warnings that the world community can no longer delay major cuts in carbon emissions, coupled with a recent surge in atmospheric concentrations of CO2, has left a growing number of scientists saying that it’s time to give the controversial technologies a serious look.”

Is It O.K. to Tinker With the Environment to Fight Climate Change?
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/18/ma...
“Scientists are investigating whether releasing tons of particulates into the atmosphere might be good for the planet. Not everyone thinks this is a good idea.”

First sun-dimming experiment will test a way to cool Earth
https://www.nature.com/articles/d4158...
“Researchers plan to spray sunlight-reflecting particles into the stratosphere, an approach that could ultimately be used to quickly lower the planet’s temperature.”
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