Reversing The Effects of Global Warming

The BBC has reported that scientists from the UK Research Society have suggested that it may be possible to use technological developments to counteract and reverse the effects of global warming.

Their report looks into the concept of developing technologies, including huge scrubbers to look into cleaning the air of carbon dioxide. There is also a suggestion that a satellite of some sort could be built to reflect the light of the sun, thus reducing the temperature of the planet.

Removal of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is the focus of this principle. The report concludes that while the planting of forests, for example, is important, it may play a minor role in our overall environmental strategy. The recommendations are for developing a system to remove carbon dioxide from the air.

A number of technologies were considered, including putting iron filings into the sea to encourage the growth of algae. Due to the unknown environmental consequences of this on sea life this technique was deemed too high risk.

It is commonly acknowledged that we need to reduce pollution levels, use less fossil fuels, less power and live in a more environmentally friendly manner. Awareness of environmental issues has increased massively amongst the public over the last 20 years. However, is developing large scale technologies such as air scrubbers really the best solution to reverse the impact we have had on our environment?

Any undertaking to develop these technologies is an enormous project which would require international co-operation. If we were to develop a system of cleaning the air, for example, this would necessarily involve massive plants to operate the procedure, built into most, if not all, countries around the globe. Operating them would, of course, take power, which has to be gotten from somewhere. With the principal of the project this must surely be renewable energy sources, but this technology itself is still in its infancy.

The proposal to develop a means of reflecting sunlight to reduce the levels reaching us, so reducing the temperature of the Earth seems even more drastic. Not only would this require international backing but there is practically no way of knowing the environmental impacts of such a technology.

To actually reduce the suns rays in any meaningful manner this would need to be a huge system in orbit, bigger in scale than anything we have manufactured before. Suggestions from the scientists include launching one million tiny mirrors into space every minute for the next 30 years. This would, presumably, lead to the planet getting darker, which could all sorts of unknown impacts on our plant life, which depend on sunlight as a source of energy and on the world’s ecosystem.

Undoubtedly something needs to be done to tackle the growing problems of global warming. But, on consideration, it seems wherever we might turn for a solution there is a very real danger that we lead ourselves into ever more dramatic problems.

For more information about global warming see these articles:

The Effects of Global Warming

The Awful Truth About Global Warming

America’s Stance on Global Warming