A group of scientists say it’s time to start looking into radical — and controversial — ways to save melting glaciers.
What happened: In a new paper, glaciologists (a term we just found out about, too) from universities and research institutes from around the world called for more exploration of how humans might be able to slow the melting of glaciers through “glacial geoengineering.”
- The relatively new field studies technological interventions humans can make to preserve glaciers and ice sheets.
- One idea described in the paper is a plan to install giant curtain-like structures in the ocean in front of glaciers that would shield them from warmer water.
Why it matters: Melting glaciers are already causing sea levels to rise, albeit by less than a millimetre per year. The risk is that if melting accelerates, sea levels could rise much more and destroy coastal areas.
- NASA estimates that if all of Earth’s glaciers and ice sheets melted, the global sea level would rise by almost 200 feet, which (while an extreme scenario) would be pretty bad.
Yes, but: Avoiding that outcome through geoengineering is controversial. Some critics argue that developing technological fixes to problems caused by climate change could reduce the perceived urgency of reducing carbon emissions.
Zoom out: Businesses involved in geoengineering of one form or another are attracting big bucks, like B.C.’s Carbon Engineering, which was acquired for US$1.1 billion last year.—TS