Cool ideas

Mother Jones, Sept-Oct, 2007 by Alvia Gaskill

Cameron Scott's "Hot Air on Hot Air?" summarizes several ideas to reduce global warming by geo-engineering the climate or bioengineering organisms. I'm responsible for the desert cover idea as well as using fighter jets to deliver hydrogen sulfide or sulfur dioxide to the stratosphere to be turned into sunlight-scattering (not-reflecting) aerosols. These ideas seem dangerous, off-the-wall, and distracting to some who lobby for reducing emissions first. But by delaying warming for even 20 to 30 years, these tactics may give us enough breathing room to make some real progress.

ALVIA GASKILL

Environmental Reference Materials Inc.

Research Triangle Park, North Carolina