One of the nation’s most influential environmental groups plans to study the contentious concept of blocking the sun’s rays to cool the planet. The move marks a significant mainstream endorsement of a once-fringe (and still-risky) field of research, writes Corbin Hiar. Yet the Environmental Defense Fund is staying curiously mum on the details of its solar radiation management research project, including the size of the new program and the full list of organizations underwriting it. Corbin’s many requests for comment went unanswered or redirected. Theoretically, solar geoengineering involves various methods of deflecting the sun’s rays, such as spraying reflective particles into the stratosphere or brightening clouds to reflect sunlight away from Earth. Proponents of the last-ditch climate solution, including some top climate scientists, say such efforts could stave off the worst of global warming long enough for humanity to reduce atmospheric pollution to safe levels. But other scientists and environmentalists argue that shooting particles into the air is too dangerous to even study. The approach doesn’t address the world’s addiction to fossil fuels and could have dire unintended consequences for the ozone layer and weather patterns, they argue. In a statement to The New York Times, EDF Associate Chief Scientist Lisa Dilling said the group remains steadfast in its support for research — not deployment — of solar radiation management. But even studying the approach has proved challenging in recent years. California’s Alameda City Council voted last week to block an experiment aimed at making clouds more reflective in the Bay Area. That’s the second time in recent months such a project has been shelved amid community opposition. Earlier this year, EDF gathered scientists, environmentalists and donors to help establish best practices for philanthropic-funded studies of solar geoengineering. Dilling told Corbin at the time that the group would release a report on the meeting, including participants’ names. But on Tuesday — after weeks of saying the report was forthcoming — EDF said it would not publish the meeting recap. “We don’t typically post for the public our workshop reports,” spokesperson Anne Marie Borrego told Corbin in an email. She said Dilling, who joined the group last August, was “fairly new at EDF and she didn’t know that when she told you it would be released to the public.”
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