Several top scientists believe that human interference on the Earth is causing negative impacts on the planet, and experts like Piotr Skubała a professor at the University of Silesia's Institute of Biology, Biotechnology and Environmental Protection, Poland, argue that mass extinction will be guaranteed if humans fail to act. One of the major factors that badly affects the stability of the Earth is global warming, due to the emission of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide.
Author Proposes Perfect Way to Cool Earth
As scare surrounding a possible apocalypse due to global warming looms up, Gernot Wagner, an American-Austrian economist who has authored the book "Climate Shock: The Economic Consequences of a Hotter Planet" has talked about the risks of using SO2 to cool Earth.
"The engineering would be straightforward: release SO₂ near the equator about 20 kilometers (12.4 miles) up into the stratosphere. The SO₂ would turn into tiny reflective sulfate particles that would spread around the globe within weeks and linger for months. A bit of sunlight would be reflected away, and everything down below would be cooled. It's fast. Unlike cutting CO₂, adding SO₂ cools the Earth within weeks, not decades. It's powerful. Millions of tons of SO₂ could help offset the global warming effects of hundreds of billions of tons of CO₂. It's also highly imperfect and risky," wrote Wagner in an article written on Bloomberg.
According to Wagner, the best way to cool down the Earth is by embracing solar geoengineering. Wagner assures that more research on solar geoengineering could be the only option to protect the earth from the aftereffects of global warming.
"Solar geoengineering is potentially so powerful that one actor might be able to lower temperatures for the globe. It's only a matter of time before pressure will increase to do just that, regardless of how fast the world slashes CO₂ emissions. Next to the trillions in costs from unmitigated climate change, and even the expense of cutting CO₂, solar geoengineering costs practically nothing. If anything, it's too cheap. A program that releases SO₂ to decrease average temperatures by about 0.1C would cost less than $5 billion per year," added Wagner.
Will Humans Go Extinct?
A few weeks back, Nick Longrich, a senior lecturer at the University of Bath, had claimed that all life on the Earth will eventually go extinct, and humans will also face the same fate one day or the other.
According to Longrich, some of the events that could cause the extinction of humans will be asteroid impacts, volcanic eruptions, and earthquakes. He also added that climate change and global warming could also cause doomsday on the earth.
