Harvard Scientists Want To Limit How Much Sunlight Reaches Earth's Surface In Order To Curb Global Warming

Business Insider - Melina Seiler | Ruqayyah Moynihan

• Climate change and global warming are among the greatest challenges mankind has faced up until now.
• Researchers at Harvard have put forward a new solution — they want to reflect some of the sun's heat back out to space.
• The process is referred to as "solar geoengineering" or "solar geotechnics".

How we can curb the devastating effects of climate change is still hotly debated among politicians and scientists alike. NASA/SDO

Climate change is one of the greatest challenges mankind has faced up until now.
How we'll be able to curtail global warming and its devastating consequences is still very much a hot potato among politicians and scientists alike — and so far, the outcome of all these debates hasn't been particularly fruitful.
However, researchers at Harvard may have come up with a solution that sounds just a little too good to be true.
In conjunction with researchers from MIT and Princeton, the group has suggested slowing down global warming by diminishing the amount of sunlight that reaches Earth's surface.
Yes, you read that right. The technology is called solar geoengineering or solar geotechnics.
According to a study published in Nature Climate Change, the researchers are considering what might happen if they were to introduce sunlight-reflecting particles into Earth's atmosphere.

Researchers at Harvard have suggested dimming the sun as a partial solution to help slow down global warming. Shutterstock

 The most important thing to note is that the researchers aren't suggesting the method is a solution to rising global warming trends; it isn't designed to bring temperatures back to pre-industrial levels nor does it address the real crux of the problem — the amount of carbon dioxide we're producing.
In fact, too high a dose of "dimming" could even worsen the situation.
Postdoctoral research fellow at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Peter Irvine, was the lead author of the study.

As well as this measure, carbon dioxide emissions still need be reduced worldwide. J. David Ake/AP

 "The analogy is not perfect," he explained, "but solar geoengineering is a little like a drug which treats high blood pressure. An overdose would be harmful, but a well-chosen dose could reduce your risks. Of course, it's better to not have high blood pressure in the first place but once you have it, along with making healthier lifestyle choices, it's worth considering treatments that could lower your risks."
The study suggests that this technology could the rate at which temperatures are increasing in half, which could offer global benefits without exacerbating problems in other parts of the world.
Alongside this measure, however, carbon dioxide emissions would still need to be reduced across the globe.

More water and fewer hurricanes 

The scientists found that halving global warming with solar technology not only cools the planet but would also compensate for over 85% of hurricane intensity. David Goldman/AP

In order to better understand which regions might end up worse off if this geoengineering technology were combined with emission reductions, the researchers used a state-of-the-art, high-resolution model to simulate extreme rainfall and tropical hurricanes.
This is the first time a model of this sort has been used to look into the possible effects of solar geotechnics.
The researchers studied temperature and precipitation extremes, water availability, and also measured the intensity of tropical storms.

The researchers emphasised that our main response to climate change still ought to be to cut back on carbon dioxide emissions. Gian-Reto Tarnutzer/Unsplash

They found that halving global warming via geoengineering would not only cool the planet but also moderate changes in water availability and extreme precipitation in many places.
While the science surrounding geoengineering technology is over half a century old, it's only recently — since our attention has been drawn Earth's climate change — that scientists have intensified their researched the field.
Researchers at Harvard University have stressed, however, that our main response to climate change should be to curb carbon dioxide emissions; geoengineering alone simply wouldn't be capable of fully remedying the root of the environmental problems.

Links

• Halving warming with idealized solar geoengineering moderates key climate hazards
• This Spanish company found a way to produce fuel without emitting CO2 — and it's made of sewage
• The UN has warned that we only have 12 years to curb climate change
• Global warming is making oceans so acidic, they may reach the pH they were 14 million years ago
• A UN Secretary-General adviser called Donald Trump a 'psychopath' for suggesting a return to coal power