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Comment by goda90 | Hacker News Reader

I think I saw a movie about this. They built a fast train that could survive the deep freeze by staying in motion.

But more seriously. Sunlight that hits the planet(and isn't reflected back out) is a different variable than solar heat that stays in the atmosphere. Our carbon levels are increasing the second variable. Trying to counteract that by lowering the first seems like it would have tons of unintended consequences.

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I think the movie is Snowpiercer? Great movie by the way.

A few crackpot headcanonists believe it to be a grimdark sequel to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and given the evidence I find it hard to disagree.

It's also a TV show now as well.

You mean the sequel to Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory?

> Sunlight that hits the planet(and isn't reflected back out) is a different variable than solar heat that stays in the atmosphere

Solar heat that stays in the atmosphere originates from the sunlight that hits the planet and does get reflected.

The greenhouse effect is trapping the heat, not the light. So sunlight hits the atmosphere, some reflects, some more reflects off of the surface and back out, and the rest is involved in various things that eventually results in heat. That heat can then radiate out, or be trapped. Our problem is the balance of heat radiating out vs being trapped is changing. If we jump right to stopping the sunlight in the first place, sure it'll reduce the amount of heat that is produced thereby reducing the amount of heat trapped in the atmosphere, but that's not the only thing we need to consider.

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