Dominic Lawson looks at one Superfreakonomic idea for solving our supposed Climate Change problem:

Let’s suppose, however, that our political leaders are not mistaken in taking the view that the threat to mankind does come from the greenhouse effect and its consequences. Here is where Levitt’s friend Nathan Myhrvold (described by Bill Gates as "the smartest person I know") comes up with a plan almost appalling in its simplicity.

Myrhvold begins with the uncontroversial observation that the biggest sudden natural cooling events are eruptions from "big ass" volcanoes, which shoot vast quantities of sulphur dioxide into the atmosphere, which in turn leads to a decrease in ozone and a diffusing of sunlight, followed by a sustained drop in global temperatures.

Why not bring about the same effect through engineering, asks Myhrvold. Thus he has designed a system of pumps, attached to gigantic hoses, which would be taken up into the atmosphere in helium balloons; they would then spray colourless liquid sulphur dioxide which would wrap around the North and South poles in less than a fortnight. Myhrvold estimates that this "save the poles" programme would cost roughly $20m, with an annual operating cost of $10m. Job done.

As his article points out, a wheeze such as that will never find favour, since it threatens too many grandiose vested ambitions and interests.

I like things like this, since they allow us to test in a reversible way what works on a grand scale and what does not.

The official alternatives – spending trillions when we just don’t know what we might be getting (and losing) for all that money – look a lot less … wise?