摘要
乍一看，地球工程学似乎是极其无用的科学之一。对于全球变暖问题，一定有比技术性改变地球大气层、云层构造甚至是外太空更加容易的解决办法。但是对比了其他方式—例如改变上亿人的行为习惯及上千企业的工作方式，以大量减少地球表面的二氧化碳总量，何况还有行动缓慢的政府部门— 一些科学家开始更加认真地考虑看上去出乎人们想象的计划。本文列举了应急性临时改变地球的五大计划背后的机械原理。
At first blush, geoengineering~ sounds like outrageous junk science. Surely there＇s an easier solution to the problem of global warming than technologically altering Earth＇s atmosphere, its cloud formations and even outer space. But when compared with the alternative—drastically reducing the amount of carbon dioxide blanketing the planet by changing the behavior of billions of people and thousands of industries, not to mention slow-moving governments—some scientists are beginning to take the seemingly outrageous schemes a lot more seriously. Here are the mechanics behind five plans to jury-rig^2 the Earth.
