Dimming Sun's Rays Should Be off-Limits

Scientists have long known that injecting a large quantity of reflective particles into the upper atmosphere could cool the planet. JUAN BARRETO AFP/File
Scientists have long known that injecting a large quantity of reflective particles into the upper atmosphere could cool the planet. JUAN BARRETO AFP/File
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Dimming Sun's Rays Should Be off-Limits

Scientists have long known that injecting a large quantity of reflective particles into the upper atmosphere could cool the planet. JUAN BARRETO AFP/File
Scientists have long known that injecting a large quantity of reflective particles into the upper atmosphere could cool the planet. JUAN BARRETO AFP/File

Planetary-scale engineering schemes designed to cool Earth's surface and lessen the impact of global heating are potentially dangerous and should be blocked by governments, more than 60 policy experts and scientists said on Monday.

Even if injecting billions of Sulphur particles into the middle atmosphere -- the most hotly debated plan for so-called solar radiation modification (SRM) -- turned back a critical fraction of the Sun's rays as intended, the consequences could outweigh any benefits, they argued in an open letter.

"Solar geoengineering deployment cannot be governed globally in a fair, inclusive and effective manner," said the letter, supported by a commentary in the journal WIREs Climate Change.

"We therefore call for immediate political action from governments, the United Nations and other actors to prevent the normalization of solar geoengineering as a climate policy option."

An increase of 1.1 degrees Celsius above mid-19th century levels has already boosted the intensity, frequency and duration of deadly heat waves, droughts and megastorms, said AFP.

The world's nations have committed to capping the rise in Earth's surface temperature to 1.5C above mid-19th century levels, but UN-backed scientists have said that threshold will be breached, possibly within a decade.

The failure to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions that drive global heating has led some policy makers to embrace solar geoengineering -- widely dismissed not long ago as more science fiction than science -- in order to buy time for a more durable solution.

It has long been known that injecting a large quantity of reflective particles into the upper atmosphere could cool the planet.

Nature sometimes does the same: debris from the 1991 eruption of Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines lowered Earth's average surface temperature for more than a year.

But the open letter said there are several reasons to reject such a course of action.

Artificially dimming the Sun's radiative force is likely to disrupt monsoon rains in South Asia and western Africa, and could ravage the rain-fed crops upon which hundreds of millions depend for nourishment, several studies have shown.

- Unintended consequences -
"Stratospheric sulfate injection weakens the African and Asian summer monsoons and causes drying in the Amazon," the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) said in its most recent scientific assessment.

Other regions, however, could benefit: a study last year concluded that SRM could sharply curtail the risk of drought in southern Africa.

Scientists also worry about so-called termination shock if seeding the atmosphere with Sun-blocking particles were to suddenly stop.

If SRM "were terminated for any reason, there is high confidence that surface temperatures would increase rapidly," the IPCC said.

In addition, the technology would do nothing to stop the continuing buildup of atmospheric CO2, which is literally changing the chemistry of the ocean.

The open letter also cautions that raising hopes about a quick fix for climate "can disincentivize governments, businesses and societies to do their upmost to achieve decarbonization or carbon neutrality as soon as possible".

Finally, there is currently no global governance system to monitor or implement solar geoengineering schemes, which could be set in motion today by a single country, or even a billionaire with rockets.

The open letter calls for an "international non-use agreement" that would block national funding, bad outdoor experiments and refuse to grant patent rights for SRM technologies.

Such an agreement "would not prohibit atmospheric or climate research as such," the letter said.

Signatories include Frank Biermann, a professor of global sustainability governance at Utrecht University; Aarti Gupta, a professor of global environmental governance at Wageningen University in The Netherlands; Professor Melissa Leach, director of the Institute of Development Studies in Sussex, England; and Dirk Messner, president of the German Environment Agency.



Fires Engulf Türkiye’s Mediterranean Coast as Government Declares 2 Disaster Zones

People stand next to smoke rising from the wildfire in the Aksu district of Antalya, a Mediterranean city in southern Türkiye, July 25, 2025. (Reuters)
People stand next to smoke rising from the wildfire in the Aksu district of Antalya, a Mediterranean city in southern Türkiye, July 25, 2025. (Reuters)
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Fires Engulf Türkiye’s Mediterranean Coast as Government Declares 2 Disaster Zones

People stand next to smoke rising from the wildfire in the Aksu district of Antalya, a Mediterranean city in southern Türkiye, July 25, 2025. (Reuters)
People stand next to smoke rising from the wildfire in the Aksu district of Antalya, a Mediterranean city in southern Türkiye, July 25, 2025. (Reuters)

New wildfires broke out on Türkiye’s Mediterranean coast Friday, as the government declared two western provinces in the country to be disaster zones.

Images showed flames and smoke billowing into the sky close to high-rise apartment buildings in Antalya, where local and foreign visitors flock during the summer months.

Homes were evacuated in the city center and the outlying district of Aksu as the fire advanced, privately owned news agency DHA reported. Firefighters struggled to extinguish the blazes before strong winds could spread the fire, which closed a major coastal road.

Further along the coast, homes in the city of Manavgat were also threatened.

Local residents with hoses and buckets rushed to assist firefighters as water-dropping helicopters and planes also battled the flames. Police water cannons and municipal water trucks were also enlisted in the firefighting efforts.

Antalya Gov. Hulusi Sahin said that the fires were under control apart from one in Aksu, which was "showing a tendency to grow," and another in Gazipasa, east of Manavgat.

"The fires were truly disturbing and dangerous, because they occurred in city centers, among houses," he said. "We evacuated some of our homes ... There are no deaths or injuries."

At 46.1C (115F), July temperatures in Antalya city were the highest for the month since records began in 1930.

Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya, meanwhile, said Friday that Izmir and Bilecik provinces had been declared "disaster areas affecting public life," one step below the most serious level of emergency.

Between June 27 and Thursday, residents from 120 neighborhoods nationwide were evacuated, Yerlikaya added, and more than 12,000 workers under the ministry’s authority, such as police and rescue staff, had fought the fires.

In a social media post, the minister said 311 homes had been destroyed or seriously damaged during the monthlong blazes and 85 temporary housing units were set up across three western provinces for those made homeless.

Speaking after Friday prayers, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Türkiye was "faced with a truly great disaster." He said that 25,000 personnel were fighting fires across the country, assisted by 27 planes, 105 helicopters and 6,000 ground vehicles.

Türkiye has faced widespread outbreaks of forest fires since late June. Thirteen people have died, including 10 rescue volunteers and forestry workers killed Wednesday in a fire in Eskisehir, western Türkiye. The funerals for the 10 were on Thursday.

Temperatures above seasonal norms have been exacerbated by strong winds and dry conditions, resulting in dozens of wildfires.

East of Antalya, fires broke out in Adana and Mersin on Friday. Elsewhere in the country, firefighters continued battling blazes in Eskisehir and nearby Karabuk that have been raging for several days.

Albania battles fires

The heat wave in the eastern Mediterranean region saw 1,000 firefighters and soldiers battle flames in Albania as temperatures reached 42 C (107 F).

In the Albanian city of Elbasan, firefighters have been combating a weeklong blaze in the country’s central mountain forests. Fires have also broke out near the southern border with Greece.

Cyprus aftermath

In the aftermath of one of Cyprus’ worst wildfires in living memory, it wasn’t lost on Cypriot officials that climate change may have been a significant contributing factor to the pace and ferocity of the flames.

Both government spokesman Constantinos Letymbiotis and Fire Chief Nicos Longinos referred to the arid conditions, with temperatures hitting 44 C (111 F) and very strong winds that quickly overwhelmed fire crews.

Even 14 firefighting aircraft couldn’t douse the multiple, fast-moving fire fronts quickly enough.

Cyprus is in its third year of minimal winter rains on which it relies for drinking water and for agricultural purposes, even as the government is revving up additional desalination projects.

The fire that moved at breakneck speed left two dead, forced the evacuation of 16 communities, scorched dozens of homes and destroyed many orchards and farms.

Quizzed by a reporter about criticisms that the Fire Service didn’t move quickly enough, Longinos was on the verge of tears when he said that he and all his firefighters have taken an oath to "give their lives" if need be to save lives and property.