Ban Geoengineering Research? Scientists Call it a "Catastrophic Mistake"

A U.S. politician recently held a hearing to ban "geoengineering" research. This term refers to deliberate technological climate interventions. One example is using reflective particles in the atmosphere to block sunlight and cool the planet. The hearing missed a critical point, argue climate policy experts Craig Segall and Baroness Bryony Worthington. They state that humans have already "geoengineered" the planet accidentally. Centuries of burning fossil fuels have released greenhouse gases that now dangerously overheat the Earth. The urgent question for global policymakers is not whether to change the climate, they write. The climate is already changed. The real debate is whether we should now study deliberate interventions. The goal would be to reduce warming risks and buy time for the world to transition to clean energy. Banning such research, they conclude, would be a catastrophic mistake.