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by anonymouzz 2742 days ago
Why is no one talking about alternative means to cooling the planet, like aerosols?

https://edition-m.cnn.com/2018/11/23/health/sun-dimming-aero...

This would be a great opportunity for stalling (or even reverting) part of the problem till batteries and other clean products get crazy cheap.

Edit: I think this is important because it's much more doable. It is a much easier sell - fits the general story of economic growth, that almost everyone believes that economies (especially their economy) should expand. This would be a cross-national collaboration in which many people would take pride (we own the planet, and we're handling it well) and could have technological side effects like the flight to the moon. The current ideas which find it hard to get themselves divorced from slowing down economies are simply much less palatable.
2 comments
Eridrus 2742 days ago
People are. But it doesn't address all the issues if CO2 production, like ocean acidification and will have it's own unintended consequences. Moving to carbon-free sources of energy is still the best option, and we should still be treating that as plan A. It's also not a permanent solution on its own, it needs to be done in conjunction with CO2 reductions.

So I really don't think it should be hogging the Limelight, now that we actually making some progress, even if it's clearly very late.

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StavrosK 2742 days ago
Because we're probably going to screw it up even worse, I guess.
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anonymouzz 2742 days ago
Yeah I get that fear, but the truth is we'd already be over 2*C if not the aerosols that humans released: https://nca2018.globalchange.gov/img/figure/figure2_1.png

These took out much of the heat from greenhouse gasses. And in my opinion you either buy the climate change models (which are very aware of aerosols), or you don't. It doesn't make sense to believe that the planet will heat up more, that it is due to humans, but aerosols are not a part of the story.

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StavrosK 2742 days ago
Huh, that's interesting, I didn't know that. The problem is that it might cool the planet, but might cause other issues that we'll have to deal with. It might be a good plan B, though.
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