Whitewashing To Grow A Glacier

The World Bank has awarded a $200,000 grant to a unique geo-engineering project: white-washing a mountain in Peru to recuperate its glacier. The idea is the brainchild of Peruvian inventor, Eduardo Gold who says when sunlight is reflected off a white surface, solar energy passes back through the atmosphere and out into space, rather than warming the Earth. This would bring about a cooling of the peak’s surface, which in turn would create a cold micro-climate around the peak, resulting in formation of glacial ice.

The pilot project is already underway with a few men from the village adjoining the mountain painting the loose rocks of the Chalon Sombrero peak with a paint made from lime, industrial egg white and water. While some people are skeptical of this idea, Mr. Gold is confident that they could re-grow a glacier by recreating all the climatic conditions necessary for it to form. Peru is home to more than 70% of the world’s tropical glaciers and global warming has already melted away several of them of them in the last 3 decades.

[BBC via Good Blog]