Creating clouds to stop global w.arming could wreak havoc.
To counteract global warming, humans may someday consider spraying sulfur dioxide into the atmosphere to form clouds — and artificially cool the Earth.
The idea behind the process, known as geoengineering, is to keep global warming under control — with the ideal solution still being a reduction in the emissions of greenhouse gases.
However, suddenly stopping that spraying would have a "devastating" global impact on animals and plants, potentially even leading to extinction, according to the first study on the potential biological impacts of climate intervention.
"Rapid warming after stopping geoengineering would be a huge threat to the natural environment and biodiversity," said study co-author Alan Robock of Rutgers University. "If geoengineering ever stopped abruptly, it would be devastating, so you would have to be sure that it could be stopped gradually, and it is easy to think of scenarios that would prevent that."
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