The National Academy of Sciences says the U.S. needs to consider the idea of a climate change emergency plan: Cooling the air with technology. Thursday’s report doesn’t recommend using that technology. But it says the U.S. needs to study the much-debated idea of solar engineering to find if it works, what the potential side effects are and the ethics of it. Critics call it a moral hazard that would give humanity a false option instead of the necessary carbon pollution cuts. Others call it Earth’s airbag, a safety option for the planet you hope to never use.
