Giant Mirrors in Space. An Extreme Measure to Stop Global Warming.

In February of this year, after 500 top scientist from 113 countries released a landmark report saying that they are 90% certain that global warming is caused by humans, some American scientists are recommending desperate-sounding solutions that sounds like science fiction.

They want to implement new technologies that are called geo-engineering. One idea is to put giant mirrors in outer space to deflect some of the sun’s rays from getting to earth. Cooling the planet as a result.

Believe it or not as you are reading this, NASA is funding a Professor from the University of Arizona to research the use of small discs that would create a giant sun shade in space. They say that this will bring down the earth’s temperature to pre-industrial era.

I’m sure this is hard for most of us to imagine. However what’s even more difficult to imagine, and everyday I have a hard time swallowing, is what the landmark report is predicting. They’re talking about troubling changes to our planet that is not hundreds of years away but within the next 10 years.

Hotter temperatures and rises in sea level will “continue for centuries” no matter how much humans control their pollution.

Below is an ABC news report on this topic.

The more I think about that, the more I say “why not” to these ideas. Anyone in the right mind would want to secure a livable planet for the next generations. So “why not” we as a civilization muster all we can, put out best foot forward, and take broad and deliberate steps towards preventing the consequences of global warming.