Dim The Sun

[Alex]

No not a Chinese snack..... have you read about a £50 million experiment to dim sunlight, in a bid to limit climate change  ?  This is about to be approved by the Labour government.   I wonder how those solar panels will work ?


https://nypost.com/2025/04/24/science/66m-experiment-to-dim-the-sun-to-combat-global-warming-gets-ok-but-critics-have-called-it-barking-mad/

[Mups]

I hope this is just a late april Fool?  Or are the mad scientists at it again?  Shower us with Sulfate particles??

Would they rather poison us all with yet more rubbish coming from the sky to inhale,  than let us enjoy the glorious sunshine after a long, cold winter?

They've polluted our water, the seas and the rivers,  added chemicals to our food,  and now they want to ruin the air we breathe as well.   

Why not just make another Ice Age and be done with!  At least that wouldn't poison the air we breathe.

Take a look at this snippet on the Sulfate they are considering:

"Sulfate particles are part of PM2. 5, and so they have health effects similar to those from exposure to PM2. 5. These include reduced lung function, aggravated asthmatic symptoms, and increased risk of emergency department visits, hospitalizations, and death in people who have chronic heart or lung diseases."

[dextrous63]

There are times when I wish I didn't have children who will have to deal with the same or worse fears we have.

[JBR]

There are times when I wish I didn't have children who will have to deal with the same or worse fears we have.

I'm eternally glad that we haven't, because there are real dangers approaching this country quite apart from the sun shining brighter.

[dextrous63]

I totally get your point JB.

[klondike]

"Sulfate particles are part of PM2. 5, and so they have health effects similar to those from exposure to PM2. 5. These include reduced lung function, aggravated asthmatic symptoms, and increased risk of emergency department visits, hospitalizations, and death in people who have chronic heart or lung diseases."

On the bright side we probably won't get it or at least much fall on us as there will probably be so many backhanders involved there will only be a Lidl carrier bag full if any actually released and the jet stream will quickly whip it away over to Europe and beyond.

[GrannyMac]

I hope my lovely grandchildren move to NZ or Oz or somewhere a bit saner than the UK!  

[Diasi]

I hope my lovely grandchildren move to NZ or Oz or somewhere a bit saner than the UK! 

Well that gives them the choice of 90% of the world.

[JBR]

I hope my lovely grandchildren move to NZ or Oz or somewhere a bit saner than the UK! 

Were we younger, I think one of those would have been our choice too.  Probably Australia, as Marge has a good friend who emigrated there several years ago, Brisbane I think, was very happy and became the top dog in the MRI dept, a specialism which Marge taught her many years ago, so that could have been Marge!

[Raven]

One of my sisters went out to Australia in the 60s as a ten pound pom, never looked back. Wish I'd been old enough to have gone with her.

[Vlad]

Kind of odd, dim the sun but cover farmland with solar panels? 

[Ashy]

Dimming the sun, even though it's a pointless exercise that may even be self defeating*, is far too expensive and difficult to make any difference. I'd rather they spent the money (if they really must spend it) on sensible projects with known outcomes.

* Any sort of insulation that makes the day cooler will make the night warmer.

[klondike]

Not certain about the last bit as I think the idea was to somehow produce a reflective layer to incoming visible light which wouldn't necessarily prevent the outward passage of IR in the way CO₂ does.

What I am certain of is that the cost of producing any worthwhile cooling would be huge as you say and there is always the chance of unintended consequences.

[JBR]

Dimming the sun, even though it's a pointless exercise that may even be self defeating*, is far too expensive and difficult to make any difference. I'd rather they spent the money (if they really must spend it) on sensible projects with known outcomes.

* Any sort of insulation that makes the day cooler will make the night warmer.

Referring to house insulation, I assume?  I agree.  It helps prevent heat going out and conversely prevents heat coming in.

[klondike]

While that is absolutely true I don't think the plans involve any lagging.