Tim Flannery is one of my favorite scientisits to watch. Even so, I haven’t been keeping a close enough eye on him. Somehow this slipped by me. Flannery is arguing that if we keep on our current track with carbon emissions, we’re going to have to take drastic geoengineering action in order to maintain Earth as an environment suitable for continuing human evolution.
His solution: inject sulphur into the upper atmosphere to create a “global dimming effect” that will slow down global warming. In essence, he’s talking about replicating the effects of massive volcanic eruptions (think Krakatoa).
This is Big Scary Science, no doubt about it. A desperate Hail Mary pass aimed at heading off looming disaster. Flannery warns that we “don’t know” what the eventual impact of doing this would be. All we know for sure is that it would change the color of the sky … hence the title of this post, which should already have Gibson fans laughing. Or maybe crying.
PS — I just realized that I actually managed to mention global warming and evolution in one and the same post. Bring on the trolls!
PS — I just realized that I actually managed to mention global warming and evolution in one and the same post. Bring on the trolls!
