The Arctic might soon
become completely ice-free.
And when all of the ice is gone,
the world won't be the same.
But what if I told you there was a way
to prevent this from happening?
And that we could do it
by geoengineering some artificial icebergs?
Over the last 30 years,
the Arctic has lost almost
all of its oldest, thickest ice.
Now, 70% of the Arctic
is covered with thin seasonal ice caps
that shrink in the summer and grow back in the winter.
By some estimates, if the Earth
continues to grow hotter,
the Arctic could lose all its summer ice
by the year 2030.
And this would affect more
than just the Arctic.
The Arctic works like a global freezer,
keeping the planet cool.
Take all of that ice away,
and the weather patterns around the globe
would change in a very unpredictable way.
But it doesn't have to end like this.
We could step in
and regrow some of the Arctic ice.
The answer lies in geoengineering.
We could bring the ice back to the Arctic
with the help of huge wind-powered pumps.
10 million of them, to be precise.
The pumps would spread seawater onto the glaciers,
where it would freeze and form a new layer of ice.
Over one Arctic winter, the pumps
would add another meter (3.2 feet) of thickness to the ice caps.
But this would come with a price tag of
And even though that's less than 1%
of the world's gross domestic product,
some governments might consider the price too high.
But there are other ways.
The polar ice keeps the planet cool
by reflecting the Sun's energy back into space
rather than absorbing it.
This is known as the albedo effect.
We could help the young Arctic ice to reflect more sunlight
by covering it with small, shiny silica microspheres.
These powder-like microbeads aren't toxic,
and their chemical and physical properties
are similar to sand.
It would cost us just $300 million
to sprinkle 25,000 square km (45,000 square mi) of the Arctic.
But that would only cover less than 1% of all the ice there.
And we're talking about dumping
millions of tons of silica over the Arctic
that would sink to the bottom of the ocean when the ice melted.
We don't know yet what ecological impact
it might cause over time.
Would you want to risk losing the Arctic
before performing more tests?
I didn't think so.
We could leave the ice alone
and try cutting off the Sun's rays by using the clouds.
But they would have to be very thick
to reflect the sunlight efficiently enough.
This could be solved by
seeding the clouds above the Arctic
with droplets of saltwater.
All we'd have to do is figure out
how to deliver an ultra-fine seawater mist
into the lower atmosphere.
Or, we could go further
and start growing icebergs.
First, we'd dip submarines below the surface of the ocean
and fill a tank with seawater.
An onboard desalination system
would remove the salt from the water,
and then a giant freezing machine would form icebergs
5 meters (16 feet) thick and 25 meters (82 feet) wide.
But despite how cool it sounds,
the amount of energy required to power the operation,
and the heat it would release,
might negate any benefits of restoring the Arctic ice.
We could just quietly watch the Arctic
lose its ice to climate change,
until eventually there wouldn't be any ice left at all.
As temperatures rose,
the Arctic permafrost would melt
and release more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
That would increase the global temperatures even further.
The weather patterns across the planet
would be sent off course,
resulting in more floods,
more droughts, and more heatwaves.
Some scientists even believe that the ice-free Arctic
would bring harsher winters to Europe and North America.
And who knows what else could happen?
Without ice to rest on,
polar bears would be forced to swim around
instead of conserving their energy
during times when food can be hard to find.
That would result in their population dropping
to less than 10,000 by 2050.
It would be fantastic if we could refreeze the Arctic.
We should at least try to refreeze a small portion of it.
But that would be only a temporary bandage
if we continue doing the things that
caused the ice to melt in the first place.
It really comes down to us making a collective effort
to switch to renewable energy sources
and energy-efficient appliances,
to cut back on the amount of meat we eat,
to stop throwing food away,
to reduce water waste,
and to buy electric, or at least fuel-efficient cars.
And if that's not enough,
remember that you have a right to demand policies
that reflect climate science.
Together, we could undo climate change globally
before it's too late.
And if we don't start acting now,
we might have to leave the Earth
and search for another planet to call home.
But that's a story for another WHAT IF.