Can Bill Gates Save the Earth?
We could soon have a regulator to control the Earth’s temperature.
“What do people of trade and commerce have to do with studies of the environment, right?”
Well, wrong.
To boost productivity, to boost materialism, we popularised the concept of assembly line and specialisation. A munshi only knows accounts, a mechanic only knows how to repair machines, a chef only knows how to cook. This is how we fast-tracked consumerism.
If only we knew the perils...
Before we could even realise, we were doomed to a tunnel vision which discounted everything that happened outside that tunnel.
And now, the tunnel around us is fast collapsing. Irrespective of our fields of specialisation, we have to wake up to this new reality.
We only have 9 years to prevent irreversible damage from climate change. Once the damage is done, there will be no money to count. There won’t be any business, commerce or life to begin with. (Tweet this)
The clock is ticking. And, in this race against time, a lot of innovative ideas have come to light. Today we discuss one such idea that is funded by Bill Gates and Harvard University. It is called solar geoengineering.
Imagine a sunny afternoon. You are home and the fan is on but you are sweating profusely. What will you do?
You could pull the curtains and block out the sun. And instantly, the temperature will go down.
That’s what geoengineering aims to do. Not blocking out the sun completely- but to dim the sunlight that reaches earth. But, how exactly do we plan to achieve this?
Scientists have taken inspiration from nature itself. You see, massive volcanic eruptions in the past were followed by episodes of dip in temperature. How does that happen? When a volcano breaks out, the mixture of ash and sulphur dioxide shoots out with such a force that parts of it can reach the stratosphere, reflecting the Sun's rays, causing immediate cooling.
Solar geoengineering plans to do the same. Instead of volcanoes, we will be injecting the volcanic particles directly in the stratosphere. And there, we have successfully cheated the Sun!
Ummm. Can we really cheat nature without making amends to our daily activities?
What we are trying to do is cure the symptoms while turning a blind eye to the root problem. The environment is way too complex. Even the most well-versed scientist doesn’t know everything about it. Making such huge changes can lead to unpredictable outcomes. And for those very reasons, geoengineering is also an extremely controversial experiment.
Well, geoengineering is not just theory. Some form of it has already been deployed in our world before. Where?
In China. To artificially enhance rain. Way back in 2008, China used a technique called cloud seeding to make it rain a day before the opening ceremony of Beijing Olympics.
But, what they are planning now is going to happen on a much larger scale. And they plan to do it by 2025.
Well, the environment is not owned by China alone. This move could potentially impact other regions as well.
We have already messed a lot with the environment. Do you think Geoengineering is a step in the right direction, or is it a self-fulfilling doomsday prophecy?
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Don't know about this but CCS do have a bright future and it is the need of the hour.
Really loved the way the topic has been explained!
Keep up the good work ReadOn!