Every time this topic comes up all one has to say is, "Unintended Consequences." Earth is still being studied. There are no guarantees, especially, now that there are warming effects that completely change Earth's physics.
By Carolyn Gramling
Diagram from Britannica (click here)
Geoengineering ideas — tinkering with the climate (click here) to delay or halt the worst effects of global warming — have been around for decades. Few such ideas have progressed past the thought experiment stage, due in part to concerns that the cure could be worse than the disease. But as dire warnings about climate change’s impacts increasingly dominate the news, geoengineering may once again be getting a closer look.
“We should investigate geoengineering in case we can’t change our behaviors fast enough to ward off the worst of climate change,” Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang notes on his campaign website. Yang’s campaign, alone among the candidates, proposes funding large-scale government research into massive climate intervention projects such as giant solar radiation-reflecting space mirrors or seeding the ocean with iron to promote blooms of carbon-sequestering algae.
Not everyone is sure this is a good idea. When it comes to ocean seeding, for example, “there is considerable uncertainty and disagreement … whether this would do more harm than good,” says David Karl, an oceanographer at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Vast algal blooms could alter the geochemistry of the deep ocean, he adds. “It is with great caution that anyone should be deliberating altering the nutrient balance of the sea for any reason.” Similarly, proposals to tinker with incoming solar radiation to cool the planet might significantly shift weather patterns and negatively affect crops....
This article in "Wired" last year is simply over the top irresponsible. If "Wired" wants to be a leader on climate, then preserve habitat. The only time this should be tried is when the last Earthling is leaving for "Earth II" in a different solar system.
Altering Earth’s geophysical environment is a moon shot (click here)—and it will be the only way to reverse the damage done. It’s time to take it more seriously.
