Global Warming Reversal Project

The Global Warming Reversal Project was an initiative enacted in the early 22nd Century by the United Kingdom, France, the Russian Federation, India, Australia, the Republic of China and thirty-two smaller nations aimed at reversing climate change by coating the Earth's glaciers with a reflective coating to reflect heat and slow glacial melt.

Technology
The system used to reverse global warming was inspired by the effect of global dimming, a result of increasing concentrations of atmospheric aerosols, in blocking sunlight from reaching the surface, which partially countered the effects of greenhouse gas-induced warming. Snow clouds were seeded with huge numbers of nano-wafers via aircraft. Each nano-wafer was a perfect circle, two nanometres wide, with one highly-reflective side. The wafers fell with the snow onto glaciers, at which point the oriented themselves so that the reflective side faced the sky, reflecting heat and preventing it from reaching the ice. Coverage was incremental, but effective nonetheless. The coating was thicker along the edges of glaciers and ice sheets where the melt was happening fastest. Each wafer would biodegrade after six months of operation, and was constructed of completely non-toxic materials to prevent damage to any Human or animal ingesting them.

Prelude
Since the mid-1800s, Earth's developed nations had been burning massive amounts of fossil fuels for energy. While efficient and plentiful, despite worries of resource depletion, these fuels had the disadvantage of releasing large amounts of carbon dioxide and other chemicals into the atmosphere. These "greenhouse gases" formed a layer in the atmosphere that trapped heat from the sun, increasing the temperature of the Earth. Given time, this would result in polar ice cap melt, large-scale natural disasters and extinctions, and death or poverty for millions. Though a number of measures were imposed in the 20th and 21st Centuries, they only had the effect of slowing the process of global warming, since political, ideological, and economic factors stifled stronger initatives.

The Project
However, during the late 21st Century, sea levels worldwide began rising at a rate of several centimetres a year due to global warming. It became clear that some form of quick, effective measure was necessary to slow the rise while nations around the world adapted to newer forms of energy generating technology. Though initially only a theoretical project put forward by Professor John Smith of the University of Cambridge, the United Kingdom government under Caitlin Holt, the Prime Minister, eagerly made funds available so that Smith and his team could develop a prototype. When this was successful, the United Kingdom put the proposal before the United Nations as a viable method of stopping climate change.

The proposal was received with great optimism; France, the Russian Federation, and India all pledged financial and material support to forward the project. The Republic of China and thirty-two smaller nations provided financial support. The United States of America, however, refused to join the project, as the official policy under President Philip Stewart's Republican government was to not recognise global warming as real.

Making use of huge numbers of bomber and transport aircraft (the United Kingdom made the last use of its outdated C-130 Hercules transport aircraft in the project), the British, Indians, Russians, Australians, and French seeded the cloud layer with trillions of nano-wafers. Within a year of the project beginning, sea level rise began to slow until by 2207 it was below the level recorded when readings had first started to be taken.

Legacy
After the Republican's defeat in the 2198 General Election, the Democrat government of the United States under Helen McCabe entered into the project, coating glaciers in Alaska with nano-wafers.

The project was discontinued in 2235 after the last fossil fuel power plant was shut down and Earth switched to nuclear energy and other green forms of power.

However, the project caused economic ruin in some areas that had prepared for global warming; port cities around the planet had been faced with a choice: construct flood control measures, or drown. In Mombasa, East Africa it was decided that, rather than shore up the old docks on Mombasa Island, it would be easier to build brand new ports on the mainland, southwest of the city. So massive seawalls were built to hold back the rising waters, and new dock structures extended out into Kilindini Harbor. For a time, these docks brought prosperity to the mainland, but as global warming began to reverse as new technologies emerged, millions of people departed Earth for colonies in the rest of the Sol System. Sea levels began receding as temperatures dropped worldwide. In time, the port facilities on the mainland were left literally high and dry. The whole area languished, closed off behind its useless seawall.

Quotes
"Good to give the old Herky-Birds one last hurrah."

- Royal Air Force Air Vice Marshal.