Geoengineering is a controversial science of manipulating the climate for the stated purpose of fighting man-made climate change. There are several types of geoengineering, including Solar Radiation Management (SRM) or solar geoengineering. Stratospheric aerosol injection, or SAI, is a specific solar geoengineering practice which involves spraying aerosols into the sky in an attempt to deflect the sun’s rays. The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy is currently developing a five-year research plan on solar geoengineering.
The White House document focuses on “atmospheric–based approaches” to SRM, specifically SAI and marine cloud brightening (MCB). The report focused on these specific geoengineering approaches because of their “greater near-term feasibility” and the “greater governance challenges of atmospheric approaches” relating to the “significant trans-boundary impacts.” In other words, because these methods involve spraying particles from planes in the sky they will impact people regardless of where the lines on the map are drawn.
The Biden White House notes that if US science agencies began supporting a “large-scale program” of SRM they “could consider engaging in appropriate international cooperation.” This international cooperation, the White House argues, could promote knowledge, research needs and results, resource savings, best practices, and reduce the prospect of “irresponsible experimentation and/or deployment.”
Hellbound and Down 