The future’s so bright…

It’s summer, everyone could benefit from wearing some sunshades… except possibly our globally warmed Earth.

One researched solution to the problem of climate change is to mimic the effects of massive volcanic eruptions. Eruptions have, in recently recorded history, been the cause of rapid global cooling. The eruption of Tambora Volcano in Indonesia in 1815 clouded the Earth so much that Europe and North America barely had a summer in 1816. I remember reading a couple of years ago about the climate history of the town I live in, and being surprised that in 1816 it was so cold that people found ice in their water buckets in July and August.

So - if the world’s too hot, we could fix it by throwing a lot of sulfur dioxide up into the atmosphere just like volcanoes, right?

Except that scientists suggest that the cure would be worse than the problem - it would likely create widespread drought and reduce the availability of fresh water.

So… next solution, please.

Via: ‘Sunshade’ for global warming could cause drought - earth - 02 August 2007 - New Scientist Environment
[tags]global warming, climate change, volcanoes, sulfur dioxide, cooling, tambora[/tags]

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