"Green" Article Review

Obama Looking at Cooling Air to Fight Warming - Associated Press

This article took me by surprise when I first read it, as I had never even considered the existence of "global cooling", but now this radical idea is being considered as a weapon against global warming. Basically, global cooling, known as geoengineering, works like this: instead of releasing pollution particles into our air, as we do now (which reflects heat back onto our planet), we instead shoot them into the upper atmosphere, where they will do the opposite, reflecting the suns incoming rays. Of course, such a drastic measure is only to be used in a last ditch effort to avoid catastrophe, but the fact that such an idea is even on the table shows a sort of desperation on mankind's part to avert this disaster, which we have known about since the 1960's. The assistant to the president on science and technology, John Holdren, proposed the plan to Obama mainly because he doesn't see the United States and other developed nations reacting to the problem fast enough to prevent the "tipping points" that indicate real problems. One such "tipping point" is the complete dissappearance of summer sea ice in the Arctic, which is expected to completely dissappear by 2050. However, such a drastic measure to save our planet doesn't come without risks, as the sulfur particles shot into the upper atmosphere may eat away at the ozone layer around the polar ice caps, but this doesn't even compare to possible side affects that scientists haven't factored into the equation. Overall, the fight against global warming looks to be in a sorry state. It could be too early to call, but if something isn't done in the next fifty years, there will be drastic environmental consequences, and even if something is done, it may already too late considering the damage that has already been done in the past 100+ years. My view may seem extremely pessimistic, but i find it hard to be optimistic for the future when so many problems have been shoveled onto my generations lap, seeing as the current generation doesn't seem to want to take responsibility now, opting instead to hold off on problems until there is a noticeable enough negative impact.

-Eric