Dimming the Sun
Geo-engineering is the technology that works into futuristic techniques to dim the sun or extract CO2 from the air on a large scale. At the end of March, the US National Academy of Sciences (NAS) called for investments in the research technique for dimming the sun to lower the temperature on earth. Can geo-engineering provide the solution to the climate problem, or are the dangers worse than the promises?
In the summer of 2021, a research group at Harvard University planned to fire a balloon into the atmosphere in northern Sweden to do tests to map out the effects and risks of this technology. The experiment is the first of its kind.
Environmental activists have protested against the test because the possible disastrous consequences of this technology cannot be fully foreseen in advance. Because of the protest, the trial is now delayed, and it unclear if and when the experiment will take place.
Proponents of the technology of dimming the sun say climate engineering research is needed because there is an insufficient global effort to stay below the necessary two degrees of global warming. They say that preparation for technical interventions in the climate is necessary, and all options to fight the climate crisis must be explored.
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Why this matters
Global warming is real. Technologies such as solar geoengineering can potentially cool the planet enough to buy extra time to reverse climate change. In the Vision 2023 chapter Nature First, we talk about master plans to reverse climate change. Dimming the sun now seems a very abstract idea but could become a reality.