Six Degrees Could Change the World

OverviewOverviewVideoVideoPhotosPhotosInteractiveInteractiveSix Degrees: The BookSix Degrees: The BookStopping The Mercury's RiseStopping The Mercury's RiseSimulating Volcanic EruptionsSimulating Volcanic EruptionsLenses In SpaceLenses In SpaceReplanting ForestsReplanting ForestsSeeding The Oceans With IronSeeding The Oceans With IronTurning Pollution Into Baking SodaTurning Pollution Into Baking SodaCreating Artificial WeatherCreating Artificial WeatherDeserts And Islands Into MirrorsDeserts And Islands Into MirrorsSIX_HTML_solutions-7

Image: A top-down view of reflective panels

Turning Deserts and Islands Into Mirrors

The surface of the Earth/atmosphere’s albedo — that is, the amount of sunlight that it reflects back into space — averages about 30 percent, but in areas covered by white ice and snow, it can reach 90 percent. That’s why the melting of the polar ice caps threatens to accelerate the global warming process even more. Conversely, however, if we could somehow make more of the Earth’s surface as reflective as the ice caps, climate change might be slowed. To that end, Internet amateur eco-futurists have advocated laying immense sheets of Mylar or some other reflective material across deserts, which have a relatively low natural albedo of 40 percent, to reflect more of the sun's energy back into space (Another similar idea is to float immense artificial islands of white plastic in the oceans). One online advocate determines that to gradually cool the planet by one degree, the scale of such a project would have to be immense, such as covering 37% of the Sahara Desert, or about 1.2 million square miles. This would cost an estimated $24 billion over ten years. One flaw in the plan is that it would require polyester film to be manufactured in unprecedented quantities, which in itself would add to the planet’s carbon emissions. In addition, skeptics envision the devastating effect that such a scheme might have on fragile desert ecosystems, and point to the inherent difficulty of protecting the thin, lightweight sheets from harsh desert conditions.

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Six Degrees Could Change the World

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