SUMMIT MEETING TO DISCUSS GEO-ENGINEERING SCHEMES
18 January 2010
Scientists from around the world have been invited to a meeting in March in California to examine the possibility of field trials of geo-engineering schemes such as blocking out the sun to slow dangerous global warming. The summit follows the failure at Copenhagen to set CO2 targets, and concern about the possibility of losing the Arctic, and the consequences for the world of that.
In a 2009 report the Royal Society said that geo-engineering methods that block the sun “may provide a potentially useful short-term back-up to mitigation in case rapid reductions in global temperatures are needed”. It recommended research and development of the “more promising” geo-engineering techniques.
Possible engineering solutions are
1. Stratospheric aerosols – spraying sulphur compounds in to the high atmosphere to reflect sunlight.
2. Ocean fertilisation – dumping iron into the sea to boost plankton growth which soaks up carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
3. Artificial trees – devices that use a chemical process to soak up CO2 from the air.
4. Cloud whitening – fleets of sailing ships strung across the oceans could spray seawater into the sky to evaporate and leave behind shiny salt crystals which would reflect sunlight back into space.
5. Space mirrors – a collection of millions or trillions of small mirrors to block the sun’s rays.
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