From Guy Cox
Your Feedback column was recently seeking “Truly Horrible Ideas for Saving the Planet” (29 August). Oliver Morton’s book The Planet Remade is surely one. He proposes veiling the atmosphere with sulphur to stabilise global temperatures (12 December 2015, p 47).
All forms of sulphur end up as sulphates, which reflect sunlight. They have a lifetime in the upper atmosphere of a year or two, during which they seriously deplete the ozone layer and return to Earth as acid rain. This will damage forests, one of our major carbon sinks, accelerate the acidification of our oceans and reduce crop yields. Frankly, the consequences of higher sea levels seem mild in comparison.
Sydney, Australia
