The Softer Side of Climate Control?

The climate blog Celsias offers some intriguing insight into geoengineering. Recently spotlighted on DISCOVER's website, geoengineering involves drastic, planet-scale alterations to the climate so Earth remains habitable for humans, despite our impressive negligence. The geoengineering schemes highlighted in the DISCOVER slideshow include blocking the sun with trillions of space-based shields and shading ourselves with stratospheric sulfur injections—but these are not the only innovative ways to help our climate. As mentioned in the slideshow, there are significant drawbacks to all of the high-profile geoengineering techniques. Tinkering with the atmosphere on a large scale (such as, say, polluting) involves significant risks, and in the end the decision results from weighing the pros and cons. When it comes to geoengineering, human survival is the overriding "pro," so collateral damage like decreased biodiversity—while by no means desirable—might have to be brushed aside. Sorry, world, but humanity's looking out for number one. Unless, that is, ...