Artificial Aerosol injection for the win???

This is the first post of my last class of senior year! I've come a long way and have learned so much and the same can be said about the first unit of my STEAM course, Frontiers. In this class, we're talking all about the oceans and how global warming and climate change are affecting them. Many people don't realize the true intricacy of the ocean and all of the ecosystem services we gain from it. After discussing the details of the oceans, like food webs, and organism diversity, we then started talking about different measures being taken by humans to help the oceans sustain themselves, through the harsh conditions of climate change. We then researched lots of different methods and had to decide on one method to mitigate the symptoms of climate change and research it. The paper below is the culmination of my research and interest.

Artificial Aerosol injection for the win???

How much do you care about the environment? It's often hard to gauge how much we should care about the environment with everything else we have to worry about in our daily lives, but everyone should still have the environment as a top concern. How do you get your oxygen? How do you get your food? How does the terrain where you live offer housing to you? You’ve got your answers, now think about if the environment were completely doomed. What would happen then? Once it became a real problem in your mind, I’m sure you got more invested than you previously were. The end goal is to find solutions to this problem, which is what many are doing with geo-engineering, but to do so we must fully understand the problem. So, what exactly is the problem with the environment right now?

Society, Royal. “1. Is the Climate Warming? | Royal Society.” Royalsociety.org, 2019, royalsociety.org/topics-policy/projects/climate-change-evidence-causes/question-1/#:~:text=Yes.,%2D1970s%20%5BFigure%201a%5D.. Accessed 27 Apr. 2022.

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Since 1880, the world’s temperature has been on a steady incline of about .14 degrees Fahrenheit per decade and in 1981 it increased exponentially to about .32 degrees Fahrenheit per decade, as seen in the graph above. With this steady increase in temperature, the world has had to adapt in numerous ways to either cool the earth down, which is currently proving to be ineffective, or go through a drastic evolution, which is what it seems to be gravitating towards. Over the years this phenomenon has been known as “global warming”, referring to the constant heating of the planet’s temperature which in turn makes living conditions for all organisms gradually worse. In 2002, environmentalists started to see a pattern of ice caps and glaciers melting, causing the sea levels to rise. If this keeps up, many coastal developments and cities will be washed away essentially creating a not-so-fun version of Atlantis. “The most recent special report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says we can expect the oceans to rise between 10 and 30 inches (26 to 77 centimeters) by 2100 with temperatures warming 1.5 °C”, says Christina Nunez with National Geographic. The increase in the Earth’s temperature is also proven to cause longer summer dry seasons and drier soils and vegetation, according to research conducted by a division of the U.S. EPA(Environmental Protection Agency). These drier areas are prone to more intense wildfires, as seen in places like California in 2019 and 2020. These specific incidents are what got the public more concerned about climate change and global warming, but not nearly enough of us are concerned to the extent we should be about the other effects. “We have to get everyone to care about the environment because we live here. I hate that people just don’t care simply because they won’t feel the effects in their lifetime”, says Jenaya, an Illinois high school sophomore. Imagine if global warming didn’t cause fires and cities to go underwater, what would happen then? What are the effects that the masses haven’t thought about that could be just as, or even more, detrimental to Earth’s inhabitants?

After oxygen, food and sustenance are the most important things to all species. But how would an increase of a dew degrees impact the world’s balance of food for its species? It's not a difficult concept to grasp once it’s understood that everything is connected. The heat that the world is absorbing is affecting the climate. This means winds, rains and droughts, heat and humidity in the air, bacteria growth, ocean salinity, and even more. The sudden change in climate destroys the conditions that need to be met for certain plants, insects, bacteria, animals, and natural habitats to develop with the help of certain nutrients. This, in time, affects the food chain and food web when certain species cant get the proper food, homes and coexistence. After that, humans and other animals lose the appropriate sources for nourishment which will lead to the demise of all organisms; Global extinction, for humans at least. As it can be determined from this basic display of consequences, the overheating of the world dishes out many issues, beyond the immediately conceivable ones.

Simply recognizing the problems will never lead to progress towards eradicating them, so to move forward, it is imperative that we start thinking of solutions as well. The main issue with global warming is that more and more of the heat from the sun is able to strain the earth because of things like greenhouse gasses trapping more of the sun’s heat in the atmosphere. Through geo-engineering, there may be a way to mitigate the root of the problem, the sun’s heat. Geo-engineering is the purposeful manipulation of the environment to counteract the effects of global warming and create a world where all organisms can prosper. One Geo-engineering theory that has come up is Artificial Aerosol injection. Artificial Aerosol injection is the process of erecting clouds of Artificial Aerosol compounds into the sky and atmosphere, which will reflect the sun’s heat away from the planet and as a result, cool the Earth below. But this begs the question, Is Artificial Aerosol injection a viable course of action for mitigating the effect of the sun’s heat on the world?

Sources like CarbonBrief and SciTechDaily have begun to look into this idea and are breaking it down to the smallest detail. They explain that there are a couple of obvious concerns that come up when looking at this geoengineering technique. Even fellow peers had similar concerns. The first is that the sudden change in temperature as a result of these clouds will cause a shock for all wildlife and the climate which will result in some organisms going extinct or struggling to survive and some areas being extremely difficult for any species to inhabit. Despite this being a genuine concern, it could easily be addressed by erecting these clouds slowly over time to give the world the opportunity to adapt. Another concern that comes up is that the planet will get too cool if the clouds are effective in reflecting the sun’s heat. “I think the clouds being used to cool down the planet will eventually run into the problem of the planet being too cool and not receiving enough heat”(Jamiyah interview). This one may sound unrealistic but is a genuine concern that is shared by civilians and scientists alike. The simple solution here for this problem would be to ensure that the clouds are not erected in every square inch of the atmosphere and are only put up in moderation which allows for the world to cool but still get the proper dose of heat from the sun. The last concern is that the chemical compounds that make up the Artificial Aerosol clouds will be toxic to the environment and all of the earth’s species. This one has no immediate solution, but that’s exactly why this method of geoengineering is still being heavily tested and researched. To answer the big question of whether Artificial aerosol injection is viable or not, It is. This method of geoengineering is viable in theory, but as demonstrated, there are many variables to consider which will make the process of development take quite a bit of time, funding, and faith.

Caring about the environment is an easy task but actually working to nurture it and ensure that it is able to sustain life is another thing. It's difficult to think about what to do, let alone act on it, but that’s what the professionals are for. Scientists and marine and environmental enthusiasts are working tirelessly on transformative geoengineering concepts to better the world for generations to come. The best thing we can do is stay informed and make an effort to not contribute to the emission of greenhouse gasses and other environmental toxins. Supporting marine research and other similar charities, shopping with environmental partners over companies that gravitate towards industrial means, and riding your bike more than using a car are all ways that you as an individual can contribute to a better world for the future.

Sources:

“Climate Change: Global Temperature | NOAA Climate.gov.” Climate.gov, 2021, www.climate.gov/news-features/understanding-climate/climate-change-global-temperature#:~:text=Earth’s%20temperature%20has%20risen%20by,land%20areas%20were%20record%20warm.. Accessed 26 Apr. 2022.

‌“Sea Ice.” Nasa.gov, NASA Earth Observatory, 16 Sept. 2016, earthobservatory.nasa.gov/features/SeaIce. Accessed 26 Apr. 2022.

“Explainer: Six Ideas to Limit Global Warming with Solar Geoengineering - Carbon Brief.” Carbon Brief, 9 May 2018, www.carbonbrief.org/explainer-six-ideas-to-limit-global-warming-with-solar-geoengineering. Accessed 26 Apr. 2022.

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“Termination Shock: Trying to Cool the Earth by Dimming Sunlight Could Be Worse than Global Warming.” SciTechDaily, 19 Feb. 2022, scitechdaily.com/termination-shock-trying-to-cool-the-earth-by-dimming-sunlight-could-be-worse-than-global-warming/. Accessed 26 Apr. 2022.

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Day, Lewin. “Blocking out the Sun: Viable Climate Countermeasure or Absolute Madness?” Hackaday, 26 Apr. 2021, hackaday.com/2021/04/26/blocking-out-the-sun-viable-climate-countermeasure-or-absolute-madness/. Accessed 27 Apr. 2022.

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Cohen, Ariel. “A Bill Gates Venture Aims to Spray Dust into the Atmosphere to Block the Sun. What Could Go Wrong?” Forbes, 10 Dec. 2021, www.forbes.com/sites/arielcohen/2021/01/11/bill-gates-backed-climate-solution-gains-traction-but-concerns-linger/?sh=33f9c783793b. Accessed 27 Apr. 2022.

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Nunez, Christina, and National Geographic Staff. “Sea Level Rise, Explained.” Environment, National Geographic, 15 Feb. 2022, www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/article/sea-level-rise-1#:~:text=The%20most%20recent%20special%20report,temperatures%20warming%201.5%20%C2%B0C.. Accessed 27 Apr. 2022.