John Holdren told The Associated Press in his first interview since being confirmed last month that the idea of geoengineering the climate is being discussed. One such extreme option includes shooting pollution particles into the upper atmosphere to reflect the sun's rays. Holdren said such an experimental measure would only be used as a last resort.
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But Holdren noted that shooting particles into the air—making an artificial volcano as one Nobel laureate has suggested—could have grave side effects and would not completely solve all the problems from soaring greenhouse gas emissions. So such actions could not be taken lightly, he said.
Still, "we might get desperate enough to want to use it," he added.
Another geoengineering option he mentioned was the use of so-called artificial trees to suck carbon dioxide—the chief human-caused greenhouse gas—out of the air and store it. At first that seemed prohibitively expensive, but a re-examination of the approach shows it might be less costly, he said.
Here's the link to the full article.
Oh dear, I do not like the idea of this at all. I appreciate the fact that they are looking at all the options, but I cannot fathom how this would be implemented at all. Given that this is something that would affect the whole world, would they seek the acquiescence of all countries in the world, or would the US go it alone? And what if things go wrong?
I find the fact that we have to look at such drastic measures as possible options to be nothing less than a damning statement concerning our abuse of the environment. How could we let things go so far?
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