what have you discovered a way to cool
down the planet extreme weather events
are becoming more common and more
ferocious as the surface temperature of
the earth continues to rise so too will
the ferocity of natural disasters in
2018 scientists will take bold steps to
explore a technology that could reverse
the effects of climate change it's an
engineering project that would literally
touch every living thing on the planet
they're looking at ways to reflect
sunlight back into space
and cool down the earth insurers say the
number of weather-related disasters has
quadrupled since 1917
while world leaders are debating and
disputing climate change and the ways in
which humans alter their behavior on
earth
some scientists discuss changes to the
earth itself in 2018 they'll take to the
stratosphere to learn what it might take
or cost to cool the planet directly
geoengineering is the pioneering science
that could well be on everyone's lips in
2018 the idea of jus engineering is the
idea that humans purposefully influence
the climate of the planet Solar G
Engineering specifically is the idea of
introducing a substance into the
stratosphere that will cool down the
planet by reflecting back sunlight the
same idea as wearing a white shirt in
summer the white shirt reflect sunlight
back you don't feel as hot as if you
were black shirt this is humans
deliberately trying to have an effect on
the climate a fundamentally different
undertaking from merely messing up the
climate which we've been doing for
centuries the team from Harvard
University is the first in the world to
test the effects Solar geoengineering
might have in the stratosphere our
experiment will be a small balloon
payload that weighs a few hundred
kilograms it'll fly about 20 kilometres
up in the stratosphere that's about
twice as high as a commercial jet it
will release a small amount less than a
kilogram of materials and then they'll
fly back and forth and measure the way
those interact with the background
chemistry of the stratosphere
what makes this experiment unique is
that there has never been a purposeful
introduction of materials in the
stratosphere to study the impact this
happened the experiments in 2018 won't
impact the climate but if one day
implemented this controversial
intervention could help curb extreme
weather events geoengineering offers
options for reducing the harm that real
people are going to suffer in their tens
of millions and hundreds of millions if
we turn down the Sun a little bit
that brings the Earth's energy more into
balance and that could reduce some of
the risks like extreme storms or extreme
temperatures solar geoengineering has
the potential to save lives but it also
poses unknown risks you're introducing
something into the environment that
wasn't there naturally there will be
side effects the question is can we
understand how big or small they are if
humanity ever decides to do it there
will be deep uncertainty about how well
it works and what the risks are and
there are fears that merely researching
geoengineering might be detrimental to
the long-term fight against climate
change
there are a number of highly respected
scientists who say that experiments on
solar changing should not be done their
concern is that you will make people
think there is a option available that
is a solution to climate change at best
solar geoengineering is a supplement to
cutting emissions not a substitute for
cutting emissions some environmentalists
say that the drive to reduce carbon
dioxide emissions could be lost if there
seemed to be a quick fix and deciding
who controls the technology that effects
everyone on the planet won't be easy
you're gonna have disagreements about
where to do this but how quickly to do
this and those sorts of disagreements
might lead to international tensions
ultimately Solar geoengineering could
prove a risk not worth taking but
ignoring it now could be even more
dangerous
I believe that choosing ignorance over
knowledge is never the right choice our
generation aren't the deciders it's our
kids where they're kids who will make
the real decisions about implementation
my fundamental view is we owe it to our
kids to give them more information if we
do no research we give them a gift of
ignorance
you