— by Daniel Gottlieb —

The other night, in Eastsound, a UW academic stated there has been no program to enhance the reflectivity of the atmosphere through the injection of particulate matter and/or aerosols into the atmosphere for albedo modification–a geo-engineering strategy designed to mitigate the affect of anthropogenic forcing of the radiative balance (global warming).

Further, the UW academic stated that any notion of it (albedo modification) was foolish. [Attached below] is the [power point presentation] by the Chief Scientist of the Atmospheric Sciences Program–for examination by the citizens of Orcas Island. So that islanders can make their own determination. I cannot address the question of why the speaker did not know about the Atmospheric Sciences Program. Some of the best early work on aerosols and particulates (Watson) came out of the UW.

The UW academic also stated anthropogenic forcing of the radiative balance (global warming) was an event of a far distant future–fifty plus years in the future. The climate crisis is now. It requires attention, intelligence, awareness, and political will. Feel good presentations that hide the facts are pointless. The federal government–to their credit–has been working on addressing anthropogenic forcing of the radiative balance for a while. Albedo modification is one of those programs.

We here in San Juan County must also take steps to deal with our changing environment. A county wide resilience program to deal with the affect of anthropogenic forcing of the radiative balance coordinated with a similar process at the state level begins that process of taking important steps to ensure the safety and security of San Juan County residents. In my opinion, these processes could not happen soon enough.

For the record, I believe albedo modification, a form of geo-engineering, is a poor approach to the climate crisis.

Attachment Schwartz Climate Change

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