Since the beginning of time, man has yearned to destroy the sun…

…and if this is what a temporary solution to global warming is supposed to look like, my pessimism about the future of everything will earn another wry moment of vindication.

Two approaches hold the most promise: injecting tons of sulfates—essentially solid particles of sulfur dioxide—into the stratosphere, and pumping seawater into the lower atmosphere to create clouds. A recent report in the journal Atmospheric Physics and Chemistry Discussions identified these two approaches as having a high likelihood of being able to counter global temperature increases, and to do so in a reasonably short amount of time.

The sulfate-injection plan, which has received the most study, is explicitly modeled on the effects of massive volcanic eruptions, such as Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines; in the months after the 1991 eruption, global temperatures dropped by half a degree Celsius.

To trigger a drop in global temperatures, we’d need to loft between two million and 10 million tons of sulfur dioxide (which combines with oxygen to form sulfate particles) into the lower stratosphere, or at about 33,000 feet. The tiny particles suspended in the atmosphere act like a haze, reflecting a significant amount of sunlight—though not enough to notice at ground level (except for some superb sunsets).

The piece is interesting enough, and though I’m not inherently skeptical about the notion of “geoengineering,” I’m pretty certain that Cascio’s chief point — that these risky but plausible methods should be used as a way to give political leaders time to actually do something about greenhouse emissions — would be lost. Assuming that sulfate-injection didn’t provoke unexpected flooding, droughts, or other unfortunate consequences, it seems more likely that a respite from the crisis would give way to a sense that the crisis might be kept in an indefinite state of abeyance. If meaningful policies to reduce climate-altering emissions can’t be developed in response to an overwhelming scientific consensus, I can’t imagine a “stay of execution” is going to alter the situation.