65 million years ago, an asteroid the size of Mt. Everest crashed into the Gulf of America off the Yucatan Peninsula. The calamity, now called the Chicxulub impact event, exploded on impact with the force of a hundred million megatons of TNT. The initial results - a shock wave that encompassed the planet, a superheated plasma that incinerated everything within hundreds of miles, globe-spanning super-tsunamis - the impact also threw ash and pulverized rock into the atmosphere that blotted out the sun, resulting in what geologists call an "impact winter," which is like a nuclear winter, only rather more so. Photosynthesis ground to a halt, plants died, and food chains collapsed.
So, we can all agree that blocking out the sun is a bad thing - a very bad thing. Except, well, we don't have to worry about checking the driveway for tyrannosaurs or giant sauropods before pulling out of the garage.
That is, we all agree, except the British government, which is about to fund a project to look at doing exactly that - blocking out the sun. Why?
Experiments to dim sunlight to fight global warming will be given the green light by the Government within weeks.
Outdoor field trials which could include injecting aerosols into the atmosphere, or brightening clouds to reflect sunshine, are being considered by scientists as a way to prevent runaway climate change.
Aria, the Government’s advanced research and invention funding agency, has set aside £50 million for projects, which will be announced in the coming weeks.
Prof Mark Symes, the programme director for Aria (Advanced Research and Invention Agency), said there would be “small controlled outdoor experiments on particular approaches”.
What could possibly go wrong, aside from wasting a lot of the British taxpayers' dollars?
Geoengineering projects which seek to artificially alter the climate have proven controversial, with critics arguing they could bring damaging knock-on effects, as well as being an unhelpful distraction from lowering emissions.
However, scientists are increasingly concerned that carbon dioxide levels are not falling fast enough and that further action may be needed to prevent catastrophic warming.
So, we take a chance on introducing catastrophic cooling, instead? Also: Which scientists? Where are they? What are their names? What are their specialities? Too many people, when thinking of the word "scientist," get some fuzzy image of someone like the Professor on "Gilligan's Island" - a polymath who can build a fusion reactor out of some vine, a lava rock and three coconuts, but can't manage to fix a two-foot hole in the "Minnow."
Who are these scientists? Are they climatologists? Where do they work? From whence comes their funding? I see all too often that the other side trots out a scientist to yap about climate change, then we find out he's an industrial chemist. That's like asking a veterinarian if your car's fuel pump could be going out.
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Oh, the government will be funding "new studies," as well.
As well as outdoor experiments, Aria will also be funding new modelling studies, indoor tests, climate monitoring and gauging public attitudes to geoengineering.
The modeling studies - bear in mind no specifics are given - are bound to be shaky, at best. The fact is that we have little or no idea what effect these attempts may have; the best we can hope for is "none," but we just don't and can't know. Local studies can't be simply extrapolated up to the planetary scale, even if it were possible for us to attempt such a thing. And do the Brits think the rest of the world will be on board with this?
I suspect President Trump would have some sharp comments were the United States asked to participate in helping to blot out the sun.
Here's another thing: If this really was a civilization-threatening event, as the climate scolds seem to want to claim loudly and at every opportunity, then why bother "gauging public attitudes?" Why would public attitudes matter if this really was, as the scolds maintain, a major threat to human existence?
This is, I think, just another government-funded boondoggle; an utter waste of the British taxpayer's dollars, to no good end. And watch, because any possible future President Ocasio-Cortez (shudder) would want to try the same thing here. That's why I watch what's going on in the United Kingdom, which was once America, Original Recipe, but is now a playground for the terminally woke. They are a cautionary tale - and the American left would like nothing better than to follow them down this dark, stupid path.
