Bill Gates, among others, is backing the Harvard Stratospheric Controlled Perturbation Experiment. The SCoPEx is researching a form of “geoengineering” to prevent global warming. In this case, they’re exploring the idea of spraying tiny particles into the air to reflect sunlight and make the earth cooler. Towards that end, Harvard scientists are planning to fly a balloon full of equipment 12 miles above Sweden next year to gather data.

People across the ideological spectrum are not fans of this idea. The main argument from the Left is that this could keep people from cutting back on carbon emissions.

“Swedish society is increasingly calling for real, immediate solutions to climate change,” (Niclas Hällström, director of the Swedish green think-tank WhatNext?) said – such as a rapid transformation away from fossil fuels and toward a zero-carbon society.

He said the Harvard project “represents the polar opposite”, as it could create the impression that continuing use of fossil fuels is possible.

The argument from the Right would be that for all of our big talk about the climate, we know so little about it, that we’re like chimps playing with shotguns. We can’t even accurately model climate change on the earth or do a good job of explaining it, so why would anyone believe we’re competent enough to start tampering with something like sunlight on a global scale?

The conservative argument is spot-on, while the liberal argument has much less merit. It is true that if geoengineering solutions worked, there wouldn’t be a need to cut carbon emissions, but even if you buy into manmade carbon emissions causing global warming (Which we shouldn’t without a lot more research), there is no fix for it without advances in technology. It doesn’t matter what they pledge, nations like China, India, Indonesia, Pakistan, and Russia are not going to cripple their economies today because MAYBE the planet might be slightly warmer in 100 years. That makes it futile to try to fix this politically.

That’s why geoengineering can be a little like a gun. You study it, you learn how to use it and then if you ever need it, you have it ready to go. Of course, like a gun in the wrong hands, it can be dangerous as well. The last thing we need as a species is someone buying into the whole “We were wrong the other 100 times, but this time we’re sure we only have 10 years left to save the planet” rhetoric from global warming alarmists and releasing some massive amount of space glitter that dramatically impacts the climate on earth. That sort of thing could potentially be as dangerous as nuclear weapons in the wrong hands.