I wonder how many km^2 of mylar or similarly reflective material would need to be deployed in orbit around the earth at a given optimal altitude to counteract the warming, bringing about stasis in temperature?
If that were feasible, then I wonder how much further the step would be to expand/contract the light attenuator as needed? Maybe even fully deploy to reduce the severity of developing storms. We'd need to solve the problem of the mirror acting as a solar sail and getting blow away. That means it would need periodic energy inputs to counteract the push from the sun. Perhaps there's some stasis point between the earth and sun where the gravity of the sun wants to pull mirror toward it, but the push from the sunlight perfectly balances that out.
From something I just read:
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First conceived by engineer James Early in 1989, the original design was a vast, 2,000 km-wide glass shield – a structure so heavy, it would need to be constructed on the Moon. More recent suggestions include clouds of Moon dust, 55,000 wire-mesh mirrors or a planet-girdling ring of tiny umbrellas.
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It might be a good idea to set up camp on the moon just to learn how well we can figure out how to manufacture stuff on there and then cheaply send it out into space due to the low gravity and zero atmosphere.
The article I read also mentioned this, which I think about an absurd amount of the time:
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Angel’s solution is so outrageous, for years it was thought to be impossible because it defied the laws of physics: a giant electromagnetic gun embedded in a mountain. The system would accelerate cargo to launch at the mountain’s summit using a form of electromagnetic energy to convert electricity into thrust. Known as the Lorentz force, it already powers magnetic levitation, Maglev, trains, and the US Navy’s latest weapon. By side-stepping the need for fuel, the cost of launch may be as low as $20 (£13.90) per pound, enough to catapult the shade into orbit for just a few trillion dollars.
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