Today, something fascinating from the world of science! In "Shading the Earth," the National Geographic Magazine outlines a concept scientists have developed that could mimic the effects of a major volcano by filling the atmosphere with tons of small sun-blocking particles. The model is the eruption of Mt. Pinaltubo in the Philippines in 1991, which was measured to have reduced the earth's average temperature by about a degree for nearly a year.
Why would we care to do that? It could be a sort of band-aid for global warming. If the dire predictions about warming (rising seas, warmer climate, decimation of species, etc.), and if mankind is unable to get together to head off these problems before they can occur (which seems almost certain), scientists say we might be able to buy time by filling the sky with particles that would shield us from the sun and reduce temperatures by a degree or two. Cool! (Literally).
As with so many grand ideas about changing Mother Nature, there are some concerns. The accelerating pace of warming is pretty clear evidence that we imperfectly understand the interrelationships among various natural factors on earth. Does it make sense for us to gin up a huge scheme which (assuming it can be done at all) would have unpredictable effects? What if cooling was greater than expected; could we be plunged from warming into another ice age? There's also the problem of keeping the sky filled with reflective material over a period of years; once we start, can we stop without frying ourselves?
My main objection to "shading the earth" is on a little baser level. In politics, we never seem to be able to do anything until a major crisis forces the issue (see "Health Care , Is Compromise in the Air?." That's no less true in cataclysmology. The existence of a seemingly viable means of keeping our planet livable without sacrifices will just encourage further procrastination in dealing with painful choices, such as how we use fossil fuels, reducing our carbon footprint, and the like. In that environment, I suspect it would be well nigh impossible to convince the deniers that our current mode of operation need change in any way.
So please, let's just keep this concept behind the curtain; work to perfect it and plan it, but keep it for a real emergency, and let's keep working on a long-term fix, which will certainly include changing the way we think and act. Maybe in the meantime, all the space debris from our rockets and satellites will form its own umbrella.
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