Bizarre plot ‘to save Arctic’ using £4billion of fake ‘glass snow’ to reflect sunlight revealed
THE ARCTIC is melting at unprecedented rates but one engineer thinks we might be able to save it using millions of glass beads.
Nonprofit organisation Ice911 is proposing blanketing the Arctic with the beads so they will form a protective layer and reflect sunlight away.
The Arctic has lost 75% of the volume of its ice over the last four decades, according to expert analysis.
This not only contributes to rising sea levels but prevents a lot of sunlight being reflected back into space as we rely on the vast white ice sheets to do this.
Unfortunately less ice means less heat leaving the planet so even more melting.
However, Leslie Field, the founder of Ice911, thinks her bead idea could help.
Field told : "We're an awfully creative species, and we need to slow the climate-change clock."
The tiny beads field proposes look like grains of sand.
They are made from a compound called silica, which is said to be harmless to humans and animals.
The material has been described like snow and it can float.
Silica beads have been designed to stick to ice and water and not attract oil-based pollutants.
Ice911 thinks they could restore ice reflectivity and help lower temperatures by 1.5 degrees if they cover a large part of the northern Arctic.
So far, the beads have only been tested in smaller field-tests.
The material was spread over a frozen lake in Alaska in 2018 and was said to increase ice reflectivity and thickness.
Ice911 doesn't want to cover all of the Arctic sea ice with the beads but would select certain key areas.
Field has estimated that the technology would cost a staggering $5billion (£3.9billion) to spread on a large and meaningful scale but argues the cost of doing nothing is far greater.
For now Ice911 will continue to conduct test and aim to get permissions from governments for larger scale experiments.
Climate change explained
Here are the basic facts...
- Scientists have lots of evidence to show that the Earth’s climate is rapidly changing due to human activity
- Climate change will result in problems like global warming, greater risk of flooding, droughts and regular heatwaves
- Each of the last three decades have been hotter than the previous one and 17 of the 18 warmest years on record have happened during the 21st century
- The Earth only needs to increase by a few degrees for it to spell disaster
- The oceans are already warming, polar ice and glaciers are melting, sea levels are rising and we’re seeing more extreme weather events
- In 2015, almost all of the world's nations signed a deal called the Paris Agreement which set out ways in which they could tackle climate change and try to keep temperatures below 2C
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In other news, incredible drone snaps have revealed the shocking shrinkage of Iceland glacier since the 1980s.
Antarctica’s ice shelves have been ‘thinning at unprecedented levels since 1706’.
And, scientists have warned that two thirds of ice in the Alps will melt by 2100.
What do you think of the glass snow idea? Let us know in the comments...
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