The Risks of Experimenting With the Sun
To the Editor: Re “Scientist Wants to Block Sunlight to Cool Earth” (“Buying Time” series, front page, Aug. 4): Your article about solar geoengineering raises serious concerns about a complex issue that demands diverse voices and rigorous scrutiny of the potential effects of these speculative interventions on climate, ecosystems and human rights.
Claims that solar radiation modification, or S.R.M., could control the sun’s warming effects ignore the immense risks and the reality of sudden temperature spikes if deployment is stopped.
This technology could never “restore” the climate but would further destabilize an already disturbed climate system, leading to unforeseen and irreversible ecological disasters, and severely affecting current and future generations.
Almost 500 leading scientists and more than 2,000 civil society organizations worldwide are calling for a solar geoengineering non-use agreement.
