by Miguel Llanos

chemtrailsWe can probably engineer Earth’s climate to cool the planet, scientists say, but are we willing to live with the downsides? Those could include creating more droughts, more ozone holes and, oh yeah, a thin cloud layer that obscures blue skies and gives astronomers fits.

With potential negatives like that it’s no wonder that “geoengineering,” as the technique is called, has few hardcore advocates.

Instead, a growing cadre of scientists is asking whether it should be a “Plan B” in case emissions of greenhouse gases aren’t reduced in time to head off major consequences.

Experts gathered Friday at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology were discussing just that at a seminar called “Engineering a Cooler Earth: Can We Do It? Should We Try?”

Two key geoengineering approaches have surfaced: removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, and reflecting the Sun’s rays away from Earth.

The former focuses on using the oceans to absorb carbon dioxide, which takes a long time and acidifies the seas, harming corals and shellfish.

The latter is seen as more realistic, especially the leading strategy of lobbing sulfur into the atmosphere the way volcanoes do. The 1991 eruption of Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines cooled the planet by 0.9 degrees Fahrenheit.

While it doesn’t remove CO2 — and as a result, ocean acidification would continue — adding sulfur could reduce temperatures quickly.

Full article here…