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The Climate Question: Can we engineer rain to help solve climate change?

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29/08/2022 GMT

Can we engineer rain to help solve climate change?

BBC World Service - The Climate Question, Can we engineer rain to help solve climate change?

Climate change is causing more frequent droughts and flooding can we engineer rainfall to help battle this extreme weather?

From the Aztecs to the Zoroastrians, humans have always prayed for rain. We’ve tried dances, ritual sacrifices and even blowing up the sky to boost rainfall. This might sound crazy but desperate times call for desperate measures. 

Climate change is making people desperate again, in some regions droughts are becoming more frequent and pervasive whereas in others floods threaten livelihoods and cities. We have already affected our weather cycle but can we control it? Many governments have turned to cloud seeding programmes to try to manipulate rain to fall where they desire it to. But does it actually work, and what are the potential ramifications? We speak to experts about how people are trying to create rain, whether we’re on the brink of a geopolitical nightmare. 

Presenters Graihagh Jackson and Neal Razzell spoke to:
 
Cynthia Barnett, Environmental Journalist and author of ‘Rain: a Natural and Cultural History’ 
Dr Katja Friedrich, Professor of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, University of Colorado Boulder
Dr Dhanasree Jayaram, Assistant Professor at the Department of Geopolitics and International Relations, Manipal Academy of Higher Education.
 
 
The team this week: 
Reporter: Valdya Baraputri, Bilingual Reporter BBC Indonesia, reporting in Jakarta 
Researcher: Imogen Serwotka 
Producer: Lizzy McNeill
Series Producer: Jordan Dunbar
Production Coordinators: Helena Warwick-Cross & Siobhan Reed
Editor: Richard Fenton-Smith
Sound Wizard: Tom Brignell

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