Yesterday, a U.N. climate panel released a “code red” report that warned of “deadly heat waves, gargantuan hurricanes and other weather extremes” if drastic action isn’t taken quickly to stop man-made climate change.
According to a Reuters report on the issue, “controversial methods” of geoengineering are now being actively considered by the UN to limit and reverse global temperature increases.
“For example, humans could spray sulfate aerosols – tiny reflective particles – into the stratosphere 20 to 25 kilometers (12 to 16 miles) above the earth’s surface to reflect more sunlight back into space, which lowers global temperatures,” states the report.
However, using this method would create “uncertainty, moral issues (and) ethical issues” because “sulfate aerosols have the side effect of also lowering average precipitation.”
While such methods would benefit some countries by creating a cooling effect, other regions “could suffer by, for example, no longer having conditions to grow crops.”
“The side effects of any of the known geoengineering techniques can be very significant,” said physicist Paulo Artaxo. “Society has to consider if these side effects are too big to try any strategy.” (...)
