Salt is to Save Our Planet?

According to a group of scientists, the addition of vast amounts of salt to the atmosphere might help save the planet. They believe that because salt is largely reflective, it may help cool the earth by reflecting sunlight into space.

On the other hand, other climate scientists are less certain with the idea. This is more like choosing Casino War game when playing darmowe spiny and expecting to carry the day, which is very uncertain. For that reason, a geoengineering strategy would be a purposeful, large-scale effort to alter the environment to combat climate change and save our planet. 

Professor Michael Mann of Penn State’s Department of Meteorology told Live Science, “It’s an interesting notion.” The problem is that “most of these methods, however theoretically tempting on the exterior, are revealed to be laden with potential unforeseen effects when you examine them in greater detail.”

A Salty Idea

As a last-ditch effort to counteract climate change, the salty suggestion is more of a steady effort for the past effort that may be utilized if humans fail to reduce carbon emissions, such as carbon dioxide drastically.

Commercial airlines typically fly above the upper layer of the atmosphere because of the weather and clouds. The objective is to disperse salt into this layer, the Planetary Science Institute (PSI), a non-profit organization that studies planetary systems, along with the solar system, was a major contributor to the notion. 

Geoengineering ideas abound, and this one is by no means the first. As reported in Science Magazine, some scientists have investigated sending aerosols, or small particles, into the stratospheric, the area above the troposphere, to chill the earth.

Natural aerosols such as those produced by a volcanic eruption could mimic the cooling effects of these man made particles, whether they are aerosols or common table salt. For example, Live Science previously revealed that from A.D. 939 to 940, a series of spectacular eruptions from Iceland’s volcano Eldgjá caused one of the coolest summers in the Northern Hemisphere.

Researchers believe in using aerosols, but many of them, like alumina or diamond dust, are bad for the ozone layer (which protects the surface of the earth from the sun’s UV rays) and for people’s health. But in 2015, when Nelson was looking at vaporized salts on the faces of objects in the solar system, like the dwarf planet Ceres, he noticed that table salt could be a possibility. It reflects light better than alumina and is safe for people.

He also said that if the salt was ground up into little pieces and put into the upper layer of the atmosphere, it would not block the infrared heat that the earth gives off, which also works to help the planet cool.

According to Mann, “salt has chlorine in it, and chlorine is a part of ozone-depleting CFCs,” which could worsen ozone depletion. The Union of Concerned Scientists says that the loss of ozone does not contribute to climate change, but it is bad for people’s health since it allows ultraviolet radiation into the Earth.

From all indications, extensive research still has to be done on salt and salt properties to ascertain the fact that it can be used to save our planet. But reactions from some scientists suggest that even with the possibility of using salt to save our planet, it cannot be a long-term result.