Geoengineering With Space Mirrors Will Have Negative Effects

David Quilty | 19 June, 2012 | Climate Change

A recent study released by a team of scientists from Germany, Norway, France and the United Kingdom which warned that large-scale geoengineering projects could negatively impact the environment is being supported by another geoengineering study out of Germany.

The Max Planck Institute for Meteorology ran through a series of different computer simulation climate models, each using CO2 levels four times that of pre-industrial revolution times. The team then reduced the amount of sunlight hitting our planet to mimic what effect using “space mirrors” to deflect sunlight from the earth to reduce global warming could have.

The results, while showing that the mirrors could indeed help reduce global warming, could also mean substantially less rainfall for North and South America along with northern Europe. The models showed that those parts of the world could receive 10 to 20 percent less rainfall than they currently do, which could spell disaster for areas currently stricken with drought conditions.

The idea that we will be able to completely geoengineer our way out of the climate crisis without having to change our behavior is a dangerous one, as we really don’t have any idea what these types of projects could do to the planet in the long run. And while some aspects are certainly worth discussing and possibly even implementing, we need to combine them with real-life solutions such as reducing carbon emissions and our dependence on fossil fuels. Space mirrors sound cool and futuristic, but there’s a lot we can do today that we are avoiding doing because we believe technology will save us.

It’s going to take a combination of tactics to solve this problem.

[via NewScientist]

Image Credit: George M. Groutas/Flickr

David Stephen

“but there’s a lot we can do today that we are avoiding doing because we believe technology will save us” you think that confidence in technology (or geoengineering) is the reason for ignoring global efforts to mitigate GHG emissions? that’s somewhat incorrect. There are several issues around this including economic recession, ‘pressing priorities’ and what can be called ‘song and dance’ by certain emerging economies about their role to cut from their top polluting status. Geoengineering has diverse issues, known of to certain extents and postulated. Studies like this confirm past ones and add up. Geoengineering may never be deployed on a large scale, but discretion says we should prepare it like we will.