In January 2021 I gave you the news of a study of the Harvard University Solar Geoengineering Research Program, supported by Bill Gates. A study that aimed to determine whether preventing sunlight from reaching our planet's surface would help delay the effects of climate change.
Today more than 60 experts and scientists signed a letter expressing their concerns about these geoengineering projects.
Geoengineering, don't joke
"The distribution of solar geoengineering cannot be governed globally," caution the researchers. “We call for immediate political action from governments, the United Nations and other actors. Rapid action is needed to prevent the normalization of solar geoengineering as a climate policy option ”.
The letter adds that the drastic lowering of the sun's radiative power would almost certainly interrupt the monsoon rains in South Asia and West Africa. What's more: it would end up severely damaging the plants humans depend on for food. The experiments would also trigger desertification in the Amazon.
And worst of all: you don't need it
The worst part of all of this is that geoengineering technology would not only fail to slow climate change, it could also provide governments and individuals with a false sense of security, suggesting that the problem has been solved. This, in turn, "would discourage countries, businesses and organizations from doing everything possible to achieve decarbonisation." In other words, a catastrophic chain reaction.
Last but not least, the letter calls for an "international non-use agreement" to ensure that the richest nations or men on earth will never obtain patent rights for these technologies.
While the letter's goal is to safeguard humanity from potentially catastrophic experiments, it leaves us with a significant conundrum: What can really be done about global warming?
