Playing it cool

OK, so we know that Barack Obama is a powerful man but this latest plan sounds like a tall order even for him - the White House is discussing artificially cooling the earth's air as a potential emergency option to combat the threat of global warming...

Startlingly, this radical idea is not a new one - but when it was bandied around previously, it was immediately dismissed as implausible and prohibitively expensive.

But, now, as the climate Change situation reaches breaking point, the President's new Science Advisor, John Holdren, has brought up the idea once again.

He is concerned that, once global warming reaches certain milestones, such as the total loss of summer sea ice in the Arctic - which could potentially happen within the next six years - its effects will not be able to be reversed, which could pose a very serious threat for the future.

Some may say the idea of artificially cooling the air smacks of a Government trying to play God, but John Holdren says that, because global warming is happening so rapidly, emergency options are now needed.

Whilst he has said that such an experimental measure would be a last resort, Holdren has said, "It's got to be looked at. We don't have the luxury of ruling any approach off the table."

The concept of using technology to purposely cool the climate is called geoengineering and can be done in several different ways. One option, which has been suggested by a Nobel Prize-winning scientist, is the idea of shooting pollution particles into the upper atmosphere to reflect the sun's rays.

Another option is to create artificial ‘trees' - giant towers that would suck carbon dioxide out of the air and store it. But, the side effects of geoengineering could be extremely serious - it could eat away a large chunk of the ozone layer above the poles and causing the Mediterranean and the Mideast to be much drier.

The White House hasn't decided on any plans as yet and geoengineering is just one of many suggestions currently being discussed by experts, including a team from NASA and the Environmental Protection Agency.

Holdren has said that it would be far preferable to solve the problem by reducing emissions of greenhouse gases rather than by introducing geoengineering.

Opposers to the scheme will say that this all just hot air from a new administration desperate to cling to the ‘Change' buzzword.

Picture by Peter Gray