There are basically two approaches to geo-engineering, and they both have unpredictable consequences: * reflect sunlight back into space through "albedo modifi

There are basically two approaches to geo-engineering, and they both have unpredictable consequences: * reflect sunlight back into space through "albedo modification", either by spraying sulfates high in the stratosphere to mimic a volcano, or by conducting cloud whitening. complication: it will affect precipitation patterns, and allows the CO2 buildup to continue, meaning a sudden cessation would produce wrenching warming. it also does not slow ocean acidification. * suck CO2 out of the atmosphere. also known as carbon sequestration. That's what Climeworks is doing, but their method is not the only approach. What they've built is a kind of chemical tree. Another approach is to create algae blooms by seeding the ocean with iron filings, since iron is often the limiting parameter to algal growth. algae: the amazon of the sea. a joker named Russ George dumped a tanker of iron into the northern Pacific a few years ago to show this could be effective, but his experiment was poorly designed. carbon sequestration does not address the underlying cause. but we are losing the battle against the underlying cause, which is basically our addiction to economic growth driven by fossil fuels, and existing carbon in the atmosphere will continue to warm the planet for many decades to come, even we switch entirely to clean energy today. so it's likely that humanity will have to combine carbon sequestration with clean energy to avert even worse climate change. http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2015/03/geoengineering-caldeira-climate-change/ http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2015/03/geoengineerin... https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/07/170724105044.htm https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/07/170724105044.h... http://www.climatecentral.org/blogs/iron-dumping-leaves-geoengineers-with-egg-on-their-faces-me-too-15147 http://www.climatecentral.org/blogs/iron-dumping-leaves-geoe... https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2009/07/re-engineering-the-earth/307552/ https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2009/07/re-engi...