Global Dimming
Since measurements began in the 1950s, scientists have found that the amount of sunlight reaching Earth is decreasing; they call it global dimming.
But the dimming didn’t last until the 1990s, and in fact, scientists have observed widespread brightening since the 1980s, according to an article published in the journal Science. What causes the dimming ability to decrease? What effect (if any) will it have on climate change?
The film explores the theory that pollution protects the oceans from the sun’s full influence and disrupts global precipitation patterns. Evidence suggests that dimming contributed to the droughts in sub-Saharan Africa that claimed hundreds of thousands of lives in the 1970s and 1980s.
It shows that we may have grossly underestimated the rate of climate change. At the center is a deadly new phenomenon. Until recently, scientists refused to believe it existed. Worryingly, the darkness continues to this day, and Asia, home to half the world’s population, is currently under threat.
