Scientists are sucking carbon dioxide from the air with giant fans and preparing to release chemicals from a balloon to dim the sun’s rays as part of a climate engineering push to cool the planet.
Backers say the risky, often expensive projects are urgently needed to find ways of meeting the goals of the Paris climate deal to curb global warming that researchers blame for causing more heatwaves, downpours and rising sea levels.
The United Nations says the targets are way off track and will not be met simply by reducing emissions for example from factories or cars – particularly after U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to pull out of the 2015 pact.
I – Word Understanding
Downpour – heavy rainfall
Off track – not close to achieving goals
II -Have Your Say
1) Do you support the concept of global warming? Which effects of global warming are you most worried about?
2) Reducing emissions from factories and cars is not enough to combat global warming. Here are some ideas / innovative ways to keep temperatures down. Please give your opinion.
a) Sucking carbon dioxide – what to do with captured CO2?
b) Dimming sunlight by releasing chemicals – are the chemicals safe?
c) Creating artificial clouds – can it dim sunlight?
d) Dumping iron into the oceans to soak up carbon – what would be the impact on marine life?
e) Imposing penalties on CO2 emitters
3) The top three greenhouse gas emitters— China, the European Union and the United States—contribute more than half of total global emissions. How do you feel about US pulling out of the Paris Agreement ?
626 Scientists dim sunlight, suck up carbon dioxide to cool planet
