“Only those who attempt the absurd can achieve the impossible” is an aphorism attributed to Albert Einstein. Regardless of whether or not the great scientist said it, today’s geo-engineering attempts would certainly have brought a smile to his lips.
In what is veritably a deserved retribution for the anthropogenic destruction of Nature, climate change is wreaking havoc with a demonic frenzy. Humans’ desperate bid to stave off the punches sometimes leads to incredible ideas.
One idea goes like this: Arctic ice is melting, and the waters are flowing into the sea, right? Well, why not pump the water back on to the ice and let it freeze, to thicken the ice sheets? Namely drill through the sea ice, pump seawater from beneath onto the ice surface during winter, and let the Arctic air freeze it into an extra layer. A group of researchers from different universities tried it on 1 sq km of Cambridge Bay in Nunavut, Canada, and got a foot of extra ice. The ice was more reflective, which helps climate action.
But can you scale up? Another research theorised the idea and found it feasible — only you’d need millions of wind-powered pumps to cover even 10 per cent of the Arctic ocean.
The other idea is even grander. They want to build three dams along an 82-km stretch of sea across the Bering Strait, linking Alaska and Russia via two islands. This idea, from the University of Bordeaux, France, is to prevent an ocean current phenomenon called the ‘Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation’ from weakening.
Global warming is causing it to weaken; the dam will delay it, they say.
Published on July 13, 2026
