George Clinton fans will probably be the only ones who get the joke in that headline. Clinton, of Parliament Funkadelic fame, had a brief comeback in the 90's that included the cut "Paint the White House Black".
Well it turns out that doing so would miss a simple solution to climate change. Use of white paint in sunny areas would reflect so much sunlight away from the Earth's surface it would have the effect of taking all cars off the road for 19 years.
A critical component to this theory is the Urban Heat Island Effect. Essentially the issue is this, pavement and other non-natural surfaces tend to absorb heat. That means cities are on average, several degrees warmer than rural areas within the same climate areas.
Humans have been wise to this phenomenon for a long time. Go to Greece, Spain, or Southern France and you'll notice that most buildings are white. It's a natural air conditioner. But what nobody had considered was the effect globally. Three California scientists set out to do exactly that based on understanding of the earth's "dimming" and its effect on global warming. As the greenhouse effect intensifies, one of the most dangerous consequences is a decrease in the earth's albedo
— the degree to which it reflects solar radiation. Antarctic ice, for
example, acts like a giant mirror, reflecting the heat of the sun back
into space; as the ice melts, the earth absorbs more heat, leading to
more global warming — a self-perpetuating process scientists call a
feedback loop.
In essence the goal would be to interrupt that feedback loop by replicating the albedo effect, naturally provided by the polar ice caps, in our urban areas. Secretary Chu even seems to be hip to theory (note: That's not to say the Nobel Laureate is in fact hip.)
It's a fascinating theory but I worry that it could also be counterproductive. One of the theories put forward by climate change skeptics is that the heat island effect is skewing global temperature measurements and that what we think of as global warming is just increasing urbanization. Climate scientists have debunked this many times demonstrating that they had already accounted for that in their measurements. Perceptions, rather than facts, have always been the weapon of choice for these folks and I fear this would only fuel these perceptions.
It could also make people think that with such a simple solution, we don't need to change our behavior. This would be catastrophic as this theory is really a stopgap measure intended to avert catastrophe. Ignoring the seriousness of our situation would be the worst thing we could do.
And finally, as is always the case with smart and simple solutions to problems, skeptics are piling on to mock it as they did when then candidate Obama suggested people ensure their tires were properly inflated. Though predictable, handing these folks more ammunition is a problem when the economy is so sick that making more personal sacrifice in the name of the environment puts action on climate change low on American's priorities.
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