If we start deliberately cooling the Earth, we may not be able to stop
Blasting aerosols into the sky to reverse climate change seems like an exciting proposition, but it may be too dangerous to attempt: If we try and then suddenly halt this form of geoengineering, it could cause more damage than climate change itself, according to new research.
Global warming is a pressing problem, and some scientists believe that sending a plane to spray sulfate aerosols into the sky will help cool down the Earth. In a study published today in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution, researchers used models to predict what would happen if we sprayed the aerosols for 50 years, and then abruptly stopped. They found that this scenario would cause the Earth to warm up too quickly to give animals time to move to more...