Russia is very cold. So cold that when Russians are asked if they are concerned about global warming, they tend to frown, look bewildered and ask things like: " When..?". And " will I still need six pairs of sheepskin boots?".

So it's not surprising some Russians are very interested in things like temperature and thermal energy. One such person was Mikhail Ivanovich Budyko, a climatologist from the Leningrad Geophysical Observatory.

Dr Budyko (1920-2001) is famous for a couple of things; his snowball idea and the blanket named in his honor.

The first of these, the Snowball Effect relies on research begun by Budyko during the 1950s. Basically it says the globe could suffer from an extreme shortage of CO2 (carbon dioxide) brought on by  natural weathering and the earth's ability to soak up and sink CO2. This in turn would cause a rapid freezing of the earth and a new Ice Age. Temperatures would fall to an average minus 40 degrees celsius, except in tiny areas around volcanoes and thermal hot spots where life lingered on and survived.

Simply explained all of this would be due to a shortage of CO2 warmth. Ice and snow would appear in the warmer latitudes. The white snow  would then reflect the solar energy. The earth would get cooler. The albedo effect.  And the earth would race into an Ice Age.

Budyko's hypethesis is not a very popular one. The Russians probably don't like it; nor do those climate scientists who say the world should be worried about too much CO2, rather than too little.

What's a little perplexing is this Snowball Effect forms the basis of the Budyko Blanket hypothesis. And this is a pretty popular one amongst geoengineers.  (Though Al Gore definetely does not like the idea.)

Using the Budyko Blanket idea,  some scientists and geoengineers believe they could cool down the earth by pumping sulphur dioxide into the stratosphere. This would blanket the globe with a thin layer of sulphur dioxide, one of the waste emissions from coal power stations and other industries.

Its all supposed to be a fairly simple process. Narrow 30 kilometre hoses would be attached to power stations and then suspended in the stratosphere by giant helium balloons. The sulphur dioxide would be pumped up into the stratosphere by hundreds of small pumps spread along each hose.

The hoses could then be turned up or down; on or off. Thus with the aid of taps humanity, finally and simply, could control the climate. Or so the theory goes.

Budyko's Blanket is based upon the belief that, as with snow, the tiny particulates in sulphur dioxide would act like a mirror and reflect heat.  The earth would be blanketed against the heat of the sun. And all it would take is a few (maybe less than six) hoses attached to some dirty coal power stations, spread about the globe, which are already spewing out sulphur dioxide.

Of course there are a few problems associated with this (assuming it works). Things like: unfriendly countries with dirty power stations being able to control the world's climate (a climate cold war); finding people to service faulty stratospheric hose pumps; ensuring planes don't bump into the hoses etc etc.

http://theblanketeffect.blogspot.com/

http://www.superfreakonomicsbook.com/

http://www.intellectualventures.com/