More than 60 experts, including several past guests on The Sweaty Penguin, made headlines last week for signing a letter that encourages the international community to adopt a non-use agreement for solar geoengineering—a set of technologies that aim to reflect or block out a fraction of the sunlight hitting the Earth in order to artificially cool the climate. But given the urgency of climate change, why do these experts want to take a potential solution off the table? Today, we explore what solar geoengineering could accomplish at its best, what some of solar geoengineering’s (arguably insurmountable) challenges would be, and what comes next for this technology. With special guest Dr. Elizabeth Chalecki: Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Nebraska Omaha.
The Sweaty Penguin is presented by Peril and Promise: a public media initiative from The WNET Group in New York, reporting on the issues and solutions around climate change. You can learn more at pbs.org/perilandpromise.
Support the show and unlock exclusive merch, bonus content, and more for as little as $5/month at patreon.com/thesweatypenguin.
CREDITS
Writers: Dain Kim, Ethan Brown, Shannon Damiano, Maddy Schmidt
Fact Checker: Hallie Cordingley
Editor: Frank Hernandez
Producers: Olivia Amitay, Ethan Brown, Megan Crimmins, Shannon Damiano, Frank Hernandez, Dain Kim, Caroline Koehl
Ad Voiceover: Maddy Schmidt
Music: Brett Sawka