In the video segment, I note how the evolution and erosion of the nuclear winter hypothesis (which two climate scientists, Stephen H. Schneider and Starley Thompson, later concluded would be more like a “nuclear autumn”) fit a cycle often seen in consequential science:
There’s a pattern to how some phenomena and stories play out. The first idea is very stark and then the scientific process is like piranhas that nibble away at the soft stuff and whatever is left is the hard skeleton of the ideas – the enduring part.
The video also explores the relationship of nuclear winter studies to one way to “geoengineer” a cooler climate — lofting sun-blocking sulfate aerosols into the atmosphere.
