Maybe the Earth just needs a really big umbrella.

From American Public Media, this is Marketplace Tech.

I'm Megan McCarty Carino.

The Earth keeps getting hotter, and despite some efforts to slow planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions,

they're still rising, leaving a lot of people hungry for alternative climate solutions.

One idea, reflect sunlight away from the Earth.

Amy Scott, host of the Marketplace Climate Podcast How We Survive,

looked into one out-there proposal to do just that,

which could one day become a reality.

Standing on the sand in Venice Beach, California,

Morgan Goodwin pops open a bright blue umbrella to give us some shade.

It's a helpful prop to illustrate the concept of a planetary sunshade.

You heard that right, a planetary sunshade.

Imagine something like an umbrella about the size of Argentina way, way out in space.

So if we're too hot out here and we want a little bit less sunlight, we can put up the shade,

block some of the sun and cool us off.

Obviously, the technology would be different in space, but the concept

is exactly the same. Goodwin is executive director of the Planetary Sunshade Institute. The organization

brings together climate scientists, aerospace engineers, and governance experts to study how we

could cool the Earth by reflecting

sunlight from outer space. Proposals include a constellation of spacecraft or shadecraft,

a shield made up of thin film bubbles, or a cluster of solar sails.

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