Might a C-130 like this pick up the slack from dormant volcanoes? (USAF/Getty Images Sport/Getty Images)

We’re down to No. 6 in our list of 10 plans to save the planet from global warming through geoengineering. Again, the premise behind global warming is that solar radiation hits the ground then rises back up in the form of terrestrial radiation to heat up our greenhouse gases.

Yesterday, we looked at the rather mad science-type method of using giant space mirrors to reflect solar radiation away from Earth. Today’s scheme is similar, but less becoming of a Bond villain. Why don’t we just fly some planes (or balloons) up into the stratosphere and dump tons of reflective particles into the upper atmosphere?

The planet has been doing this on its own for billions of years with erupting volcanoes. These catastrophic events can shoot sulfur dioxide (SO2) and hydrochloric acid (HCL) up into the stratosphere, forming a reflective barrier against varying amounts of solar radiation. You can think of it as a parasol made out of volcanic ash — and they’ve been observed to drop regional and even global temperatures between one and 10 degrees Fahrenheit. This is also the basic principle behind nuclear winter theory: The smoke clouds from burning cities and forests rise up to block sunlight and plunge the planet into eternal twilight.*

Naturally, we’d be looking to achieve marginal temperature shifts by dumping aerosols into the stratosphere — just enough to counter global warming while we attend to the causes. In other words, it’s just another crutch for an unsustainable way of life. According to New Scientist, the pros of this method are low cost and deployability within a matter of years.

The downsides? Well, the atmosphere is delicate, and this sort of effort could potentially screw up weather patterns, put crops at risk and — oops — possibly deplete that ozone layer in the same way we risked doing with aerosol cans.

Bone up on the rest of this week’s planet hacking schemes and drop back by next week to check out the next five. SPOILER: We’ll be headed into the ocean.

Otherwise, jump back to HowStuffWorks.com and beef up on some unrelated factoids.

* It’s a little more complicated then this, however. Do read the HSW article for a more in-depth look at nuclear winter theory!

10 Planet Hacking Schemes:
No. 10: Foresting
No. 9: Fake Plastic Trees
No. 8: Reflective Crops
No. 7. Space Mirrors