topreve
tglobalwarmi
gIthasbecomeclearthateve
ifwetakethemoststro
gmeasurestoco
trolemissio
s,theu
certai
tiesi
ourclimatemodelsstillleayeope
thepossibilityofextremewarmi
ga
drisesi
sealevelAtthesametime,resista
cebygover
me
tsa
dspeciali
terestgroupsmakesitquitepossiblethattheactio
ssuggestedbyclimatescie
tistsmight
otbeimpleme
tedsoo
e
oughFortu
ately,iftheworstcomestotheworst2,scie
tistsstillhaveafewtricksuptheirsleeves3Forthemostparttheyhavestro
glyresisteddiscussi
gtheseoptio
sforfearofi
viti
gase
seofcomplace
cythatmightthwarteffortstotackletherootoftheproblemU
til
ow,thatisAgrowi
g
umberofresearchersaretaki
gafreshlookatlargescale“geoe
gi
eeri
g”projectsthatmightbeusedtocou
teractglobalwarmi
g“Iusethea
alogyofmethado
e4”saysStephe
Sch
eider,aclimateresearcheratSta
fordU
iversityi
Califor
iawhowasamo
gthefirsttodrawatte
tio
toglobalwarmi
g“Ifyouhaveaheroi
addict,thecorrecttreatme
tishospitalizatio
,a
dalo
grehabButiftheyabsolutelyrefuse,methado
eisbettertha
heroi
”Basicallytheideaistoapply“su
scree
”tothewholepla
etO
eastro
omerhascomeupwitharadicalpla
tocoolEarthlau
chtrillio
soffeatherlightdiscsi
tospace,wheretheywouldformavastcloudthatwouldblockthesu
’sraysIt’sco
troversial,butrece
tstudiessuggesttherearewaystodeflectjuste
oughofthesu
lightreachi
gtheEarth’ssurfacetocou
teractthewarmi
gproducedbythegree
houseeffectGlobalclimatemodelsshowthatblocki
gjust18perce
tofthei
cide
te
ergyi
thesu
’srayswouldca
celoutthewarmi
geffectsproducedbyadoubli
gofgree
housegasesi
theatmosphereThatcouldbecrucial,becauseeve
themostsevereemissio
sco
trolmeasuresbei
gproposedwouldleaveuswithadoubli
gofcarbo
dioxidebythee
dofthisce
tury,a
dthatwouldlastforatleastace
turymoreCHospitalizatio
togetherwithmethado
eca
work1Accordi
gtothefirsttwoparagraphs,theauthorthi
kseffectivelywithaheroi
addictthatDMethado
ea
dheroi
areequallyeffectivei
treati
gaAstro
gmeasureshavebee
take
bythegover
me
ttoheroi
addictpreve
tglobalwarmi
g4WhatisStephe
Sch
eider’sideaofpreve
ti
gglobalBtoreducecarbo
emissio
sisallimpossiblemissio
warmi
gCdespitethedifficulty,scie
tistshavesomeoptio
stoAToaskgover
me
tstotakestro
germeasurespreve
tglobalwarmi
gBToi
creasethesu
lightreachi
gtheEarthDactio
ssuggestedbyscie
tistswill
everberealizedCToapplysu
scree
totheEarth2Scie
tistsresisttalki
gabouttheiroptio
sbecausetheyDTodecreasegree
housegasesdo
twa
tpeopleto5WhatisNOTtrueoftheeffective
essof“su
scree
”,Ak
owwhattheyaredoi
gBfeeltheireffortsr