What's happening?

In 1991, a volcano in the Philippines sent 17 million tonnes of a gas called sulphur dioxide (SO2) into the air.

The gas turned into a mist that reflected sunlight and cooled the Earth. Now, scientists want to copy this to slow down climate changeLong-term shifts in temperatures and weather patterns. Human action is a major cause of climate change..

It is called solarTo do with the sun. radiation management (SRM). Even billionaire Bill GatesFounder and former CEO of Microsoft, the company responsible for popularising household computers in the 80s (and still one of the major global tech companies). His house on the shores of Lake Washington is called Xanadu 2.0. It took seven years to build and is seen as an early example of a smart home. has spent money on the plan. Planes releasing particles high up into the air could change worldwide temperatures.

In California, one small company has started using small balloons to release particles. They say they want to "cool the Earth as quickly as we safely can".

Find out more

People who supportIn favour of. the plan say that other ways of tackling climate change are not working, or are too slow. Hundreds of climate scientists say they support the research.

But others are worried. Some say that if people think we can use SRM to cool the Earth, they will stop trying not to pollute the Earth. Others fear that SRM could accidentally cause extremeVery great, or beyond what is expected. weather.

And others point out that although SRM might cool the Earth quickly, once the particles disappear, the temperature could rise again.

Moreover, nobody knows who would be in control. One country could change the weather for the whole Earth, without others agreeing.

Yes! SRM is like a "fire extinguisher". We should only use it in an emergency. We do not know exactly how it might change the weather on the Earth. We should try other ways to slow down climate change.

No! We need clever ways to stop climate change. The things we are doing now are too slow. We should try anything that could help.