You may have heard about the catastrophic effects of climate change, and scientists desperate pleas for the powers that be to take it seriously.

It shouldn’t be a surprise, then, that the ideas for handling it another way have gotten a little out there – but I guess you never know which one will hit.

This one involves a “sun-dimming device,” that’s essentially “salting” the clouds.

University of Washington researchers think that introducing salt to clouds over the ocean might deflect the Sun’s light back upward.

In turn, this would keep the Earth cooler.

“Solar geoengineering” has been theorized about for years as a way to temporarily stall climate change while we try to talk leadership into taking serious action.

This experiment is taking place aboard the USS Hornet. They’re calling it “marine cloud brightening,” and uses an aerosol salt to reflect solar radiation back toward its source.

So far, they’ve tested the spraying device and it looks like it will work.

The US government and Greenpeace are both skeptical about this approach being the answer to our troubles.

The White House issued a statement to the New York Times, distancing itself from the experiment.

Greenpeace is worried experiments like this one could have unintended consequences.

“You could well be changing climatic patterns, not just over the sea, but over land as well. This is a scary vision of the future that we should try and avoid at all costs.”

The researchers on the USS Hornet still has a long way to go, and as of now, we have no way to know if it could be applied on a big enough scale to make a difference.

Then again, in the boat we’re in, every little bit helps.

Keep plugging those holes.

If you thought that was interesting, you might like to read about a second giant hole has opened up on the sun’s surface. Here’s what it means.