I will forever hate journalists for the butchering they do to every topic but particularly science on headlines.
Increasing the albedo of Earth (i.e. the total reflectivity) is a very different concept to “blocking out the sun”. If it was a gas or particles reflecting energy in regions outside the visible spectrum, say thr infrared, for the most part people, solar panels and plants wouldn’t notice. There are obvious concerns about secondary effects, but aren’t we seeing already the primary effects from the opposite, that being greenhouse gas emissions? We are already doing geoengineering, whether we like it or not, and scientifically looking for solutions isn’t a bad idea.
Now, should this be in the hands of a startup called Stardust or whatever shit? Absolutely fucking not, this should be a collective worldwide scientific discussion and effort, on the order of magnitude of the LIGO experiment, the LHC or similar projects. But as always, this is a matter of execution within capitalism and not of the theory, which needs a lot of scientific development and, yes, experimentation.
Useful experiments that we have already unintentionally carried out with “inverse greenhouse gases” are for example the emissions from transoceanic merchant ships. In 2020, regulations about sulphur dioxide emissions in merchant ships entered internationally, and abruptly cut 80% of SO2 emissions from said ships. As a result, given SO2’s inverse greenhouse effect, there has been a significant undesired increase in global radiation absorption.
We NEED to push for the study of these phenomena internationally by public entities and actual scientists in research institutions, and not let journalists and companies muddy up the topic as has happened with climate change overall.
I will forever hate journalists for the butchering they do to every topic but particularly science on headlines.
Increasing the albedo of Earth (i.e. the total reflectivity) is a very different concept to “blocking out the sun”. If it was a gas or particles reflecting energy in regions outside the visible spectrum, say thr infrared, for the most part people, solar panels and plants wouldn’t notice. There are obvious concerns about secondary effects, but aren’t we seeing already the primary effects from the opposite, that being greenhouse gas emissions? We are already doing geoengineering, whether we like it or not, and scientifically looking for solutions isn’t a bad idea.
Now, should this be in the hands of a startup called Stardust or whatever shit? Absolutely fucking not, this should be a collective worldwide scientific discussion and effort, on the order of magnitude of the LIGO experiment, the LHC or similar projects. But as always, this is a matter of execution within capitalism and not of the theory, which needs a lot of scientific development and, yes, experimentation.
Useful experiments that we have already unintentionally carried out with “inverse greenhouse gases” are for example the emissions from transoceanic merchant ships. In 2020, regulations about sulphur dioxide emissions in merchant ships entered internationally, and abruptly cut 80% of SO2 emissions from said ships. As a result, given SO2’s inverse greenhouse effect, there has been a significant undesired increase in global radiation absorption.
We NEED to push for the study of these phenomena internationally by public entities and actual scientists in research institutions, and not let journalists and companies muddy up the topic as has happened with climate change overall.