We’ve been accidentally cooling the planet — and it’s about to stop

2 comments

1. It is widely accepted that humans have been heating up the planet for over a century by burning coal, oil and gas. Earth has already warmed by almost 1.2 degrees Celsius (2.2 degrees Fahrenheit) since preindustrial times, and the planet is poised to race past the hoped-for limit of [1.5 degrees Celsius](https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2024/06/05/global-temperatures-1-5-celsius-record-year/?itid=lk_inline_manual_2) of warming.

   But fewer people know that burning fossil fuels doesn’t just cause global warming — it also causes global *cooling*. It is one of the great ironies of climate change that [air pollution](https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2022/05/17/pollution-caused-1-6-deaths-globally-five-straight-years-study-says/?itid=lk_inline_manual_4), which has killed tens of millions, has also curbed some of the worst effects of a warming planet.

   Tiny particles from the combustion of coal, oil and gas can reflect sunlight and spur the formation of [clouds](https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2022/12/12/climate-change-clouds-equilibrium-sensitivity/?itid=lk_inline_manual_5), shading the planet from the sun’s rays. Since the 1980s, those particles have offset between [40 and 80 percent](https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2022MS003070) of the warming caused by greenhouse gases.

   And now, as society cleans up pollution, that cooling effect is waning. New regulations have cut the amount of sulfur aerosols from global shipping traffic across the oceans; China, fighting its own air pollution problem, has slashed sulfur pollution dramatically in the last decade.

   Read more here: [https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2024/06/25/climate-aerosols-shipping-global-cooling/?utm_campaign=wp_main&utm_medium=social&utm_source=reddit.com](https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2024/06/25/climate-aerosols-shipping-global-cooling/?utm_campaign=wp_main&utm_medium=social&utm_source=reddit.com)

2. Termination Shock – going to start hearing that a lot more