President Biden‘s Office of Science and Technology Policy has revealed a research paper on the White House website, that confirms that it is looking into geoengineering methods to combat global warming.
The paper, titled “Congressionally–Mandated Report on Solar Radiation Modification,” was released on Friday and shows that the Biden administration has been researching two methods of blocking the sun‘s rays from entering the Earth‘s atmosphere: stratospheric aerosol injection (SAI) and marine cloud brightening.
The report says that the focus has been on “atmospheric approaches“ due to their “greater near–term feasibility relative to space–based approaches.”
The paper also states that a program of research into the potential impacts of implementing geoengineering measures could potentially help United States citizens make more informed decisions about climate policy with regards to these methods, and might also prepare us for possible deployment of solar radiation modification by other public or private entities.
The paper also suggests that geoengineering measures could cool the planet significantly in a short amount of time. However, the White House stresses that there are no plans in place to launch a comprehensive research program on solar radiation modification as of yet.
The paper could potentially open up new discussions about utilizing more extreme measures when it comes to finding ways to stop the planet from warming further, although any plans for the implementation of geoengineering have yet to be discussed.
President Biden has made maintaining the environment a priority during his first months in office, so it remains to be seen if he will put any resources towards researching geoengineering further. So far, the White House has not made any statements regarding the research paper or formed any plans to take further action.
The paper serves as an interesting look into the possibilities of saving the planet from climate change and has created much discussion and debate over the potential pros and cons of utilizing geoengineering as a solution to global warming.
We must wait for the White House to make a declaration on their stance on the potential of geoengineering before any further action can be taken.
