News > Dimming the sun to cool the planet is a desperate idea, yet we’re inching toward it

Dimming the sun to cool the planet is a desperate idea, yet we’re inching toward it

07/12/2022 07:28 PM | Click to read full article

If we decide to “solar geoengineer” the Earth—to spray highly reflective particles of a material, such as sulfur, into the stratosphere in order to deflect sunlight and so cool the planet—it will be the second most expansive project that humans have ever undertaken. The idea behind solar geoengineering is essentially to mimic what happens when volcanoes push particles into the atmosphere; a large eruption, which can measurably cool the world for a year or two. 

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