Geoengineering – even in modest amounts – works just like a drug, will kill the planet slowly

What do geoengineering and taking drugs have in common? The parallels aren’t immediately obvious, but once you take a look at the potential ramifications of the process, it’s pretty easy to see how it will slowly but surely kill the planet. Many people start taking drugs in hopes of improving their physical or mental health somehow, whether they take statins to lower their cholesterol or cocaine to lower their inhibitions. Geoengineering, too, appears to have some immediate rewards. This process uses technology to manipulate our climate system – a bit like playing God – in a way that proponents claim will reduce the effects of global warming.

One method of geoengineering that gets a lot of buzz is stratospheric aerosol injection, which entails introducing aerosols into the atmosphere that will reflect sunlight back before it reaches the surface of the planet. This, in theory, could cool the planet much like what happens following volcanic eruptions.

However, there’s always a catch. Just like statins sometimes can lower your cholesterol but may also cause brain dysfunction and raise your risk of diabetes, some researchers have shown that applying geoengineering in one hemisphere can cause serious damage in the other one.

In simulations, they found that although using stratospheric aerosol injection in North Atlantic storms might decrease the tropical cyclone activity there that can lead to major hurricanes, it will raise the chances of drought in Africa at the same time. The reverse is also true: Injecting aerosols over the southern hemisphere of Earth would reduce drought significantly in some areas of Africa but the frequency of tropical storms would rise dramatically in the Atlantic Ocean.

Why would any sane person want to pollute the atmosphere and block the sun?

Geoengineering is little more than engineered pollution of the atmosphere. It blocks the sun and reduces photosynthesis, which will have a devastating impact on the planet and its people. Just look at all the health problems a vitamin D deficiency can cause in humans; what will become of us when natural sunlight is blocked from reaching the planet?

In addition to compromising the natural climate control benefits provided by the ozone layer, it can cause precipitation pattern changes that will see animals going extinct, biodiversity vanishing, and huge swaths of once-verdant land becoming a desert. Earth will also become far more vulnerable to huge solar flares.

Is it really worth doing all of this when global warming has never even been proven? It’s like taking on the deadly side effects of chemotherapy before ever receiving a cancer diagnosis.

Geoengineering Watch minced no words when describing the practice, saying that climate engineering programs are making the problem worse, not better. They stated: “In an attempt to hide the unfolding climate and environmental cataclysm from the public for as long as possible, the power structure and the geoengineers are actually fueling the fire overall and effectively poisoning the entire planet in the process.”

Meanwhile, Bristol University climate scientist Dr. Matt Watson told BBC News: “Personally, I find this stuff terrifying.”

Even those who do believe that solar geoengineering could provide some benefits are quick to point out the importance of finding “the right dose.” The lead author of a recent geoengineering study published in Nature Climate Change, SEAS Postdoctoral Research Fellow Peter Irvine, likened solar geoengineering to a high blood pressure drug, conceding that while the right dose might reduce your risks, an overdose would be harmful.

It’s absolutely mind-boggling that carbon dioxide and the sun – two things we’d all be dead without – have been demonized to the point where some people actually believe it’s okay to pollute the atmosphere to reduce them. Then again, people poison their bodies every day with drugs that don’t even really alleviate problems, both real and manufactured, so it shouldn’t be too surprising that they’re happy to do the same thing to the planet.