By Beth Mole
Scientists shouldn’t tinker with Earth’s climate — at least not yet, two new analyses conclude.
Schemes to manually lower the planet’s temperature and dodge devastating effects of climate change are still too immature, risky and costly to try now, assert the studies, released February 10 by the National Academies. But scientists should keep working on those plans, the reports say.
The two main plans are to suck planet-warming carbon dioxide straight out of the air and — the dicier plan — to shield the globe from the sun’s hot rays by reflecting them back into space. Each plan is reviewed in a separate report produced by the National Research Council, which produces reports to advise the federal government.