Mega billionaire Jeff Bezos’s e-commerce and technology giant Amazon is currently engaged in research on how to dim the sun in order to cool temperatures on earth.
According to a report in Gizmodo, Amazon is attempting to do what is mostly associated with villains in science fiction movies. The company is collaborating with the National Center for Atmospheric Research and geoengineering organization Silver Lining to produce models to indicate what will occur if some of the sun’s rays are blocked.
Under the project, around 30 simulations are being created to ascertain what the earth’s climate will be like in the middle of the 21st century. This climate modelling has created projections in which, by the mid-century, carbon dioxide will climb higher and the hottest temperatures seen in the past few years will be the norm, while sea ice will fall to such low levels that it will completely disappear in the summers.
In one of the simulations, aerosols have been artificially released into the atmosphere to dim sunlight to aid in cooling down the planet.
Cooling down the earth by dimming sunlight is referred to as solar radiation management in scientific circles.
Though solar radiation management is seen as a solution to rising temperatures, the report in Gizmodo states that it could also result in dangers, including the death of crops in huge numbers.
Though scenarios in which sunlight has dimmed have occurred in the past, for example, with volcanic eruptions, those only happen for a few years. A scenario in which this will occur over a longer period of time, through the release of reflective particles in the atmosphere, may have many undesirable and unforeseen outcomes.
