the climate cool, according to scientists at the University of Bristol.
The reflective surface of the plants' leaves bounces sunlight back into space - a phenomenon called "albedo".If farmers grow more crops with glossy leaves we could reduce reduce summer temperatures by 1°C, say the researchers (see BBC and Science for details).
Big engineering fixes for global warming have been proposed before, but they usually have a serious downside. As far as I can tell, though, this idea seems free from nasty side effects. Can anyone see an obvious problem that I've missed?
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The only problem that I can think of is what would happen if they made the leaves too shiny and we make the world too cold? How will they work out the exact right amount of shininess to make sure that we remain in a nice warm climate that's not too hot or too cold?
Why just make the crops shiny? Why not go the whole hog and make them white? Wouldn't that be more effective?
I don't think we need to worry about crops making us chilly. We're pumping far greater quantities of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere than the albedo effect could ever compensate for.
As for the environmental impact, I think growing a large area of monocultured crops has a pretty extreme effect on ecosystems anyway!
I think white plants might have some trouble photosynthesising! The idea of painting buildings white to cool the climate has been suggested before, though. See: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/jan/16/white-paint-carbon-emissions-climate
I’m not convinced. I think that there is potential for us to accidently throw ourselves into an albedo-induced winter. According to the report below, we could potentially grow crops on 30% of Earth’s surface. If all of that area was reflecting the Sun’s radiation I'm sure we could cause ourselves, and the rest of the planet, some damage.
http://www.azocleantech.com/Details.asp?newsID=3922
I am wondering if being shiny would have a impact on the entire ecosystem?
May be it would be even better if we could have a crop that switch on and off depending on the evolution of the climate
Maybe the scientists could create a reactive crop, a bit like those glasses that become sunglasses when you step out side. They react to the amount of sun light coming in and become more or less shiny accordingly, thus regulating the temperature to the optimum level.
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