Eco Baloney: Bloomberg Opinion Editor Suggests Blotting ‘Out the Sun’ to Fight Warming

Bloomberg Opinion editors suggested that humans just “blot out” the sun to stop global warming. 

Bloomberg Opinion Editor Michael Newman wrote a senseless blog headlined, “What if We Blotted Out the Sun to Fight Global Warming?” He probably subconsciously realized the suggestion was insane, as he hedged in his subheadline: “It’s risky, but then again the path we’re on now may be even riskier.” Newman called “solar geoengineering” one of the “great hopes” to “stop or slow climate change.” He explained the idea as “an attempt to figure out a way to cool the planet by deflecting some of the sun’s rays before they reach us humans.” Newman based his argument on an equally absurd article by Bloomberg Opinion columnist Clara Ferreira Marques headlined: “Solar Geoengineering Research Is a Risk Worth Taking.” 

As Newman summarized, “Clara argues it’s ‘terrifying and terrible in the way that chemotherapy is: We don’t want it, but can we deny ourselves the possibility?’” But Newman undercut himself by admitting that “The science isn’t yet there,” and that “a group of scientists argue it should be banned now — and they are not wrong that it is a risky and last-resort proposition.” Or, perhaps dimming the thing that makes life possible on Earth is just as crazy as it sounds, and Newman pushing it as a solution makes no sense at all.

Climate Depot founder Marc Morano slapped down Newman’s blot “out the sun” as a “last-resort” argument in comments emailed to MRC Business. Morano referred to his book Green Fraud (2021)., Which pointed to a Newsweek article from April 28, 1975 showing how climate change extremists advocated for “melting the arctic ice cap by covering it with black soot” to stave off global cooling. According to Morano, Newman’s argument is “a redo of the 1970s. Before fossil fuels caused global warming, fossil fuels caused global cooling and the ice age in the 1970s!” 

Morano also analyzed the shift in narrative:

Their concern was that the global sun would be blocked by our pollution from fossil fuels, causing the next ice age and global dimming. In the 70s, they attempted to geoengineer climate. Now we are trying to reverse that process by cooling the planet rather than warming it.

As is often the case in eco-extremist fearmongering, extravagant proposals such as blotting the sun out are political gibberish that politicians use to get rid of meaningless climate regulations. 

“Climate activists are using the threat of ‘blotting out the sun’ as a form of lobbying for ‘climate action,’” Morano argued. “They are saying, ‘We are being forced to do this risky radical experiment on our planet’ unless we reduce our emissions. Passing legislation that attempts to regulate climate is futile at best. You can play with the mechanics and physics of the atmosphere on a completely different level.”

Conservatives are being attacked. Get in touch letters@bloomberg.netDemand that the outlets stop selling insane climate ideas such as blotting the sun.