Climate controversy

Is putting trillions more satellites out there really a good idea?

Geo-engineering schemes to halt climate change werediscussed in the December issue of PE. If (and it’s a big if) carbon dioxide inthe atmosphere is a cause of global warming (if it is warming), then thelogical remedy is to remove the cause by taking carbon dioxide out of theatmosphere. All the other schemes are secondary patches rather than a remedyand would be prone to the possibility of irreversible unintended consequences.Removing carbon dioxide would also confirm whether or not its level is theproblem.

As for the ‘sunshade’ proposal, there are already 500satellites, 25,000 bits more than 10 centimetres across, and half a millionsmaller bits orbiting our planet. Is putting trillions more out there really agood idea?

Terry Bryant, Weaverham, Cheshire