The Climate-Change Experiment

As climate change warms Earth’s surface temperature, natural disasters are growing more frequent and intense. The insurance industry reports that these disasters have quadrupled over nearly 50 years. Political leaders continue to clash over global warming and whether or how to change human behavior. But some scientists are researching a solution that offers an alternative to modifying human activity. Geoengineering involves deliberately altering the climate, and in 2018, scientists will begin studying how to cool the Earth by depositing sunlight-deflecting materials in the stratosphere – a process called “...