Imagine being the Washington Post reporter handed the assignment of writing up the following cockamamie idea, cooked up by unhinged scientists with God complexes, as crazy as literally blocking out the singular force upon which all life on Earth depends — and dutifully framing it as a good idea, with a few weak caveats thrown in to maintain credibility.
Via Washington Post (emphasis added):
Imagine a world where global warming on Earth has meaningfully diminished. Fossil fuels are on the back burner. Affordable renewable energy sources run most of our activities. Oh, and there’s a cannon on the moon shooting lunar dust into space to help partially shield sunlight to Earth.
That’s one eyebrow-raising approach for cooling our planet proposed by a group of astrophysicists in a study published Wednesday in PLOS Climate. The team used computer simulations to model various scenarios where massive quantities of dust (and we mean a lot of dust) in space can reduce the amount of Earthbound sunlight by 1 to 2 percent, or up to about six days of an obscured sun in a year. Their cheapest and most efficient idea is to launch dust from the moon, which would land into orbit between the sun and Earth and create a sunshade.
Yes, the idea sounds like science fiction. Yes, it would require (a lot of) new engineering. Yes, there are more feasible climate mitigation tactics that can be employed now and in the near future. But the researchers view this rigorous physics experiment as a backup option that could aid — not replace — existing strategies to help humankind live on a more comfortable Earth.
“We cannot as humanity let go of our primary goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions here on our planet. That’s got to be the first job,” said Ben Bromley, the study’s lead author and an astrophysicist at University of Utah. “Our idea is one — and it’s a very, very intensive one — to contribute to climate change mitigation, if we need more time here at home.”
Related: Supercomputer Given Authority to Decide Whether to Block Out Sun For Climate Change
You might recall from third-grade biology — and I’m not sure whether they teach this in public schools any longer in between child-grooming sessions for gender equity — that plants depend on sunlight for photosynthesis, which in turn feed animal life, each of which in turn feed humans.
So blocking out the essential ingredient might seem like a very poorly conceived strategy for combatting carbon emissions for the non-genocidal, even if one subscribes to the delusional ideology of Climate Change™.
That might be rightfully filed under “common sense.”
The Science™, however, apparently requires input from a supercomputer to make such a determination.
Via Scientific American (emphasis added):
A new supercomputer for climate research will help scientists study the effects of solar geoengineering, a controversial idea for cooling the planet by redirecting the sun’s rays.
The machine, named Derecho, began operating this month at the National Center for Atmospheric Research and will allow scientists to run more detailed weather models for research on solar geoengineering, said Kristen Rasmussen, a climate scientist at Colorado State University who is studying how human-made aerosols, which can be used to deflect sunlight, could affect rainfall patterns.
Because Derecho is 3 ½ times faster than the previous NCAR supercomputer, her team can run more detailed models to show how regional changes to rainfall can be caused by the release of aerosols, adding to scientists’ understanding of the risks from solar geoengineering, Rasmussen said. The machine will also be used to study other issues related to climate change.
