Paul Crutzen

Paul Crutzen appears in Taking the shine off: albedo and global temperatures as the reference point for a 2006 Solar Geoengineering proposal. Oliver Morton says Crutzen suggested preserving the cooling effect of sulphate particles while reducing direct health harms by putting reflective particles higher in the atmosphere.

In the source, Crutzen’s role is not to settle the policy question. He functions as the scientist whose proposal makes the albedo lever explicit: if lower-atmosphere sulphur pollution cools by reflecting sunlight, a deliberate high-atmosphere intervention could in principle imitate part of that effect while remaining politically and ethically controversial.

Connections

• Solar Geoengineering - main concept attached to Crutzen in the source.
• Aerosol Cooling Masking, Albedo Feedback, and Earth Energy Imbalance - climate mechanisms that make the proposal relevant.
• Oliver Morton and The Intelligence - speaker and source context.