Books on Science - When the Day After Tomorrow Has Come - NYTimes.com

Books on Science - When the Day After Tomorrow Has Come - NYTimes.com: "Geoengineering is generally defined as the application of engineering techniques to alter the planet as a whole. As far as climate is concerned proposals fall into two groups.

The first involves removing carbon from the atmosphere by, say, fertilizing oceans with iron, to encourage the growth of plankton or algae. In theory, the plankton would absorb the carbon and, when they die, take it with them as they sink to the ocean floor. (As Mr. Kintisch relates, private groups have already experimented with this technique, in hopes of eventually selling credits to buyers eager to offset carbon emissions.)

The second approach involves reflecting solar radiation back into space by, say, spraying sulfate aerosols into the atmosphere to make the Earth, in effect, shinier."