Daily Kos writer DarkSyde wrote about the growing evidence that the phenomenon of
coral bleaching, which threatens the world's coral reefs, is the result of climate change.
Daily Kos diarist Eternal Hope wrote about the growing interest of Solar Radiation Management (SRM) as a potential way to try to control our climate and keep the temperatures of the planet down. SRM is one concept for geoengineering our planets climate.
Much like a volcanic eruption, it entails putting sulfur aerosols or other particles into the stratosphere to shield the earth from incoming solar rays. As observed in the ’80s, this would likely cool the planet and temporarily stave off global warming’s harshest effects, such as the melting of polar ice caps. But as seen in the Sahel, SRM could also reduce rainfall in some areas, while other regions would potentially benefit from more precipitation. And that’s just one of its possible drawbacks.
Solar-radiation management is only one type of geoengineering. Other techniques for blocking solar rays or removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere were until recently relegated to the realm of science fiction, given their immense downsides. Nevertheless, federal and private money is driving some scientists toward the first field test of SRM.
A new study produced by a collaboration of scientists and researchers from the Carnegie Institution of Science, the University of Exeter, the Met Office Hadley Centre and the University of Queensland believes that the phenomenon of coral reef mass bleaching may only be
reversible using the SRM techniques:
The study compared a hypothetical SRM geoengineering scenario to the most aggressive future CO2 reduction strategy considered by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), and found that coral reefs fared much better under geoengineering despite increasing ocean acidification.
The pioneering international study is published in leading scientific journal, Nature Climate Change.
Lead author Dr Lester Kwiatkowski of the Carnegie Institution for Science said "Our work highlights the sort of climate scenarios that now need to be considered if the protection of coral reefs is a priority."
There are no easy solutions in the fight for the environment and what a study like this is illuminating is that one policy and one course of action is not enough.
Professor Peter Cox, co-author of the research and from the University of Exeter said: "Coral reefs face a dire situation regardless of how intensively society decarbonises the economy. In reality there is no direct choice between conventional mitigation and climate engineering but this study shows that we need to either accept that the loss of a large percentage of the world's reefs is inevitable or start thinking beyond conventional mitigation of CO2 emissions."