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If the Earth is just too scorching, what if we simply block a few of the solar hitting it? That’s the fundamental concept behind a photo voltaic geoengineering undertaking at Harvard that’s progressing towards an vital trial.
“Geoengineering is the concept of intentionally altering the Earth’s climate to suit our needs,” says Colleen Dolja, a PhD candidate and researcher at Harvard’s Solar Geoengineering Research Program. That staff is engaged on stratospheric aerosol injection “meaning you would put very tiny, reflective particles in the stratosphere and they would kind of work like sunglasses for the Earth,” explains Golja. The secret is the albedo of the particles, the measure of their capability to diffuse and mirror the solar’s power.
In the stratosphere, aerosol particles would naturally disperse round — and have an effect on — the total planet. That’s efficient in local weather phrases, however doubtlessly difficult in political phrases. At a time of excessive environmental consciousness, getting 195 nations to agree to inject a lot of something into the ambiance could be a troublesome promote at finest.
But the idea could have the winds of pure historical past at its again: The volcanic eruption of Mt. Pinatubo in the Philippines in 1991 shot particles 22 miles into the sky the place they lingered for a few years, cooling the Earth by almost 1 diploma, an enormous shift in geoclimatic phrases. Intentional photo voltaic geoengineering would search to replicate that cooling with out the poisonous ash and rain that got here with the eruption.
Even although local weather change is commonly portrayed as a hastening disaster, Golja signifies the Harvard work is a “break glass in case of future emergency” expertise. “There’s an important difference between advocating for research and advocating for deployment,” she says. “The research community is starting to wonder if there are key risks we can mitigate now to hand the next generation enough information if they get into a situation where they need to use this technology.”
Harvard’s Colleen Golja shared many extra insights into photo voltaic geoengineering with CNET’s Brian Cooley, and you may hear a concise model of their full dialog in the video above.
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