The United Nations (UN) has released a paper suggesting that massive mirrors reflecting sunlight into space may be needed to achieve targets for global warming reduction.
Large Mirrors in Space as Global Warming Solution
Solar radiation modification (SRM), often known as solar geoengineering, is one of the extreme proposals put out by the UN Environment Programme to avert a climate disaster, as reported by Interesting Engineering.
"SRM is the only known approach that could be used to cool the Earth within a few years," the study, written by an expert team of climate researchers, claimed.
With this in mind, it is worth noting that other researchers have tried to achieve a similar cooling effect by releasing hundreds of kilos of sulfur dioxide into the stratosphere through balloons.
In conclusion, it was stated that climate model simulations clearly demonstrate that SRM could counterbalance some of the effects of increasing greenhouse gases on both regional and global climate, including carbon and water cycles. It is also said that substantial residual or overcompensating climate change at the regional scale was possible.
The paper found that further study is needed to fully understand the environmental and societal impacts of geoengineering technology. The idea of injecting huge aerosols into the high atmosphere to block out the sun was discussed in the study with other methods.
This is not the first time that using space mirrors to mitigate climate change has been proposed. Former Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang has the plan to save the world in 2019.
He estimated that his idea to deploy giant, collapsible space mirrors would set the world back $4.86 quadrillion and take over 20 years to accomplish.
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Will this work?
The UN Environment Programme's chief, Inger Andersen, has emphasized that SRM should not be considered a solution for present efforts to reduce emissions. She argued that rather than reducing atmospheric carbon levels, it actually increases them. The environment would not be better off, and SRM would not address the causes of climate change.
As she puts it, "Our best bet for a prosperous and equitable future remains [to put] in the unavoidable hard work to achieve climate stability by reducing greenhouse gas emissions, to create a pollution-free planet and societies that live in harmony with nature."
Other scientists have also voiced concerns that such mirrors would only address the heat generated by solar radiation, which is just one component of climate change. The acidification of the seas and other side consequences of carbon dioxide emissions would not be stopped. So, it may be more challenging to minimize emissions of greenhouse gases if we rely only on space mirrors.
Large mirrors in space might have unforeseen repercussions for Earth's climate. When used to redirect sunlight, mirrors have the potential to alter weather and climate on a local, regional, or global scale by altering the paths of clouds, rain, and wind.
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