Giving Compass' Take:

• Harvard researchers are trying to parcel out if it's possible for humans to send planes into the sky to spray chemicals into the stratosphere to battle the effects of climate change. 

• Although these plans have little funding now, will it gain momentum and capital as climate change worsens?

• Here is a framework for addressing the impacts of climate change. 

In a lab at Harvard, researchers are trying to replicate the conditions of the stratosphere–the part of the atmosphere that stretches roughly six to 31 miles above the surface of the planet–in test tubes. Their goal: to better understand what might happen if humanity eventually decides to embark on a radical, controversial plan to temporarily cool the planet by spraying clouds of particles into the sky.

If it ever happens, the process might involve sending planes into the sky to release particles of a compound like sulfur dioxide that can reflect some sunlight back into space and could temporarily cool the planet. It’s not a fix for climate change, and it’s a form of geoengineering so extreme that it carries risks that may not be fully predictable. But as climate change progresses, it’s possible that the global community may someday decide it has to try it.

“Our team here is doing the research because we believe there’s still a lot of uncertainties around solar geoengineering, and we think there’s a chance for potential benefits around the world,” says Elizabeth Burns, managing director for Harvard’s Solar Geoengineering Research Program. “But we also think there’s the chance for very real risks.”

The concept of spraying chemicals into the sky to cool the Earth is not new. It’s the same process that happens naturally when volcanoes erupt.

In 1991, when Mount Pinatubo erupted and spewed millions of tons of sulfur dioxide into the atmosphere, it cooled the planet by half a degree Celsius for more than a year. But it’s only more recently that researchers have started seriously studying what might happen if humans deliberately do something similar. At this point, it’s still a very small area of study, with relatively little funding, and many unknowns.

Read the full article about spraying chemicals into the sky by Adele Peters at Fast Company