Achem's Razor and Climate Change

MOST OF THE EDUCATED world agrees that global warming is real, with climate change, is caused by human activity, and that humanity ought properly to develop a plan to first mitigate, then, if all goes well, reverse it. Just the other day new satellite photos showed that the north pole has less ice right now than ever before. Its decreasing every year; within twenty years there will be no freezing water at the north pole, and all that liquid water will be flowing into the ocean. Even now, ocean levels are rising, measurably. 

Unsurprisingly, there is no shortage of plans, proposals, and solutions being presented. Roger Angel is a seventy year old astronomer who has long been known for innovative, creative thinking. His plan to fight climate change calls for assembling in outer space a huge mirror which, when positioned properly, will intercept sunlight on its way to earth, and reflect it harmlessly back into space, away from our one hundred degree cities and towns.

Perhaps Angel has probably even noticed that his thought experiment even has the added potential of  turning the deflected sunlight into solar energy, and sending it to earth as electricity, still removing it from the ecosystem, but not entirely "wasting it".

But is this the right answer? Is the problem really that we get too much sunlight, and need to reduce it at the source, or that we get just the right amount, and shouldn't tamper with it,  but use it improparly (as fossil fuels) long after its arrival? By stopping sunlight before it reaches earth, it almost seems as if we would be blaming the sun for our difficulties, when we should be blaming ourselves.

Are se so sure that our space mirror could be built and operated cost efficiently, and that we could block off enough sunlight, the "right" amount, without unintended consequences? Perish the thought that we should reduce incoming light, and halt global warming, only to bring about our own extinction because of some subtle lack precipitated by the altered lighting arrangement!

Might it not be a better solution to reduce human population, consumption, use of fossil fuels, and greatly increase vegetation growth?

Acham's Razor might mandate the space mirror. But is this the simplest solution? Yes, simplicity and success are oft intertwineed, but perhaps not always. We might do well to consider all options very thoroughly, because, for a fact, we'll soon have to choose from among them.

Bb

please scroll down for articles you missed...THANKS!