Three kinds of geoengineering technologies have been presented thus far, any one of which could alone eventually lower excess atmospheric levels of CO2 and negate the most dire doom and gloom predictions of “Climate Change” activists and of the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change)[1]. They are:
- Regenerative Agriculture and the sequestration of carbon into SOC (soil organic carbon)
- Shift to Wood-based Construction as the primary construction material of choice, and away from the extremely polluting, high fossil-fuel-consuming, and economically damaging, steel, concrete, aluminum construction materials
- Electricity productionvia Nuclear Power and other “alternative” non-CO2 producing forms of energy production
To the extent that you believe in “Climate Change” at all, given that the preponderance of scientific evidence strongly suggests that the risk has been blown way out of proportion for nefarious reasons, we can all agree that these three “solutions” above should be put into action, since their environmental and health benefits are irrefutable. All three greatly diminish our dependency on fossil fuels, which will ultimately run out at some point in the future anyway. All three greatly lessen pollution which from the perspective of an environmental medicine physician, will mitigate aging and heal the biosphere, the land (lithosphere), the atmosphere and the hydrosphere (lakes, rivers, oceans). However, all three will be shown in this chapter to exist outside of the Overton Window,[2] as is the fourth option Sunshade Solar Geoengineering,[3] presented here. The raging debate about destroying the fossil fuel industry which is inside the Overton Window creates the illusion that a substantive debate is happening at all. Sunshade Solar Geoengineering utilizes aerosols sprayed at high altitudes to reflect sunlight harmlessly back into space. None of these four options exists within the Overton Window or fits the narrative of the media, of many scientists seeking their next research grant, of power-hungry politicians intent on limiting political liberty, or elitists at the World Economic Forum[4] seeking fame, wealth, globalist political control and public recognition.
Sunshade Solar Geo-Engineering,[5] a backup geoengineering technology that can buy us time for the other “curative” three options listed above to be implemented, is the ultimate insurance option. Everyone should agree that having an off-the-shelf, relatively inexpensive way to quickly cool down the earth, especially the polar regions, would be a good idea. We do not want to find ourselves unprepared should an unexpected turn of events – however unlikely – suddenly puts us at risk, such as “run-away global warming.”[6] We can now stop arguing about who is right or wrong in the so-called “climate debate,” and get behind geoengineering studies to get prepared.
Another advantage to Sunshade Solar Geoengineering is that aerosols which block the heating of the earth by reflecting sunlight back into space, primarily concentrate on the higher frequencies of sunlight, that not only cause global heating, but also cause the most common form of cancer, skin cancer (e.g., squamous cell and melanoma), which kills over 45,000 Americans per year.[7] An environmental physician can’t not be interested in this fact. The lower and less toxic frequencies of sunlight are transmitted through the stratospheric aerosols, depending on which agent is used, which are more supportive of photosynthesis and plant and tree growth. Thus, we get the best of all worlds; earth cooling, less skin cancer and unimpeded plant/tree growth. When this data is presented to the media – one encounters a deadening silence. Why? Panic- and outrage-porn around trashing the fossil fuel industry, AKA politically correct “Climate Change” fake news, supports wealth, research funding and political power. Solutions to excess atmospheric CO2 and the cooling of the earth? Ho-hum, no profits and power there.
Plausible evidence does suggest that the Arctic is warming faster than other areas of the earth[8] but this floating ice does absolutely nothing to raise ocean levels.[9] Anyway, to the extent that ecosystems are disrupted, this is where sunshade solar geo-engineering[10] comes to the rescue. The year-round temperatures of 99% of the ice deposits on our planet are way below zero, most notably where most ice exists – in Antarctica – even during warm summer months, so virtually none of it is melting anytime soon. Predictions of rising oceans and tsunamis and flooding are silly at best and border on sadism. The oceans are hardly rising at all (about 6 inches every 100 years (Figure above), which has been a steady rate for eons and has no relationship whatsoever to global warming.
You can perform a simple experiment to distinguish global warming from sunshade solar geoengineering. Go to the beach on a sunny hot day and enjoy the cooling shade of a beach canopy. Next, disassemble the tent and wrap yourself up in the canopy material and lie down in the hot sun. The material will insulate you like a blanket and warm you up. The factor that determines whether any material that is between you and the sun would cool or warm you, is primarily dependent on its altitude. Higher altitude particles, such as the sulfur that the volcano Mt. Pinatubo[11] injected into our atmosphere a few decades ago, substantially lowered earth’s temperature by reflecting sunlight into space. Lower atmospheric injection of CO2 blankets the earth and warms us. Incidentally, water vapor, like CO2, is generally at a relatively low altitude and it is the most important greenhouse gas of all, accounting for 60% of global warming, which is another factoid that is of course rarely mentioned by “Climate Change” activists. The proposed deposition of aerosols to be applied in sunshade solar geoengineering, which we can do immediately and relatively inexpensively, is at much higher altitudes (above 40,000 feet).
Veiling the earth with aerosols that reflect warming sunlight back into space is an inexpensive insurance plan to cool the earth should the three curative measures discussed here fail to accomplish that objective in time. These three options are the only solutions to Climate Change possible, since nothing can be done to stem the flow of carbon released into the atmosphere by the burning of fossil fuels:
- Regenerative Agriculture and the sequestration of carbon into SOC (soil organic carbon)
- Shift to Wood-based Construction as the primary construction material of choice, and away from the extremely polluting, high fossil-fuel-consuming, and economically damaging, steel, concrete, aluminum construction materials
- Electricity productionvia Nuclear Power and other “alternative” non-CO2 producing forms of energy production
Veiling the earth with aerosols that reflect warming sunlight back into space also blocks the higher frequencies of sunlight, that not only cause global heating, but also cause the most common form of cancer, skin cancer (e.g., squamous cell and melanoma), which kills over 45,000 Americans per year.[12] Thus, the palliative sunshade solar geoengineering, like the three curative solutions to Climate Change, also promotes human wellness and the health of our ecosystems.
[1] Pachauri R, Meyer L eds. et. al (2014) Climate Change 2014: Synthesis Report. Contribution of Working Groups I, II, and III to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC ), https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar5/wg1, and https://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2018/11/27/carbon-dioxide-removal-climate-change/#comments
[2] The Overton window is the range of policies politically acceptable to the mainstream population at a given time. Proponents of current policies, or similar ones within the window, seek to convince people that policies outside it should be deemed unacceptable. In 1998, Noam Chomsky said: “The smart way to keep people passive and obedient is to strictly limit the spectrum of acceptable opinion, but allow very lively debate within that spectrum—even encourage the more critical and dissident views. That gives people the sense that there’s free thinking going on, while all the time the presuppositions of the system are being reinforced by the limits put on the range of the (politically correct) debate.” (insertion in parentheses by author)
[3] Irvine P et. al. (2016) An overview of the Earth system science of solar geoengineering, WIREs Clim Change,7:815–833.
[4] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEQcyIGH_vQ
[5] Irvine P et. al. (2016) An overview of the Earth system science of solar geoengineering, WIREs Clim Change,7:815–833.
[6] This situation is caused by unforeseen positive feedbacks in which global warming accelerates the rate of global warming totally beyond any capacity of human control. Scientists may use the terms of rapid global warming and abrupt global climate change to describe this frightening, although extremely unlikely, possibility. Sunshade solar geoengineering would provide us with a way to immediately shut this down.
[7] https://www.wcrf.org/dietandcancer/cancer-trends/skin-cancer-statistics . More than 15,000 people die of squamous cell carcinoma of the skin in the U.S. each year — more than 30,000 die from melanoma each year. All cancers kill over 600,000 Americans per year.
[8] https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2019/12/arctic/
[9] Try an experiment. Put floating ice cubes in a glass or water, mark the water level, and let them melt. The ice cubes will displace the water and when melted, their molecules will not have increased the level at all.
[10] Morton O (2015) The Planet Remade: How Geoengineering Could Change the World. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 440 pp.
[11] https://volcanoes.usgs.gov/vhp/gas_climate.html
[12] https://www.wcrf.org/dietandcancer/cancer-trends/skin-cancer-statistics . More than 15,000 people die of squamous cell carcinoma of the skin in the U.S. each year — more than 30,000 die from melanoma each year. All cancers kill over 600,000 Americans per year.