It sounded like an odd but harmless experiment. Last October British scientists planned to send a balloon more than half a mile high to spray water into the air. Yet a few days before the test, it was delayed amid major backlash from environmental groups.
Though the trial itself would surely have been safe, it was a step toward something far more controversial: geoengineering, the use of large-scale human intervention to reverse the effects of climate change. Instead of water, the researchers envision that their balloon may one day release tons of particulates that would reflect sunlight and cool the planet.
But judging by the reaction to the pilot experiment, geoengineers will need to employ a delicate public relations strategy as they pursue their research. The Stratospheric Particle Injection for Climate Engineering, or SPICE, project entered the public eye last summer when scientists trumpeted the $200,000 balloon experiment at the ...
