From Boston to Miami, higher tides and stronger storms already threaten daily life. Now, scientists warn that proposed Arctic "fixes" meant to slow the melting ice could make things even worse.

What's happening?

A new international review warns that large-scale engineering projects in the Arctic and Antarctic — like building seawalls to divert warm water from glaciers or spraying microbeads to "whiten" sea ice — would be risky, ineffective, and wildly expensive.

The paper, published in Frontiers in Science and co-authored by 44 polar scientists, including two from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, concludes that these geoengineering ideas "are just Band-Aids" and could worsen the very problems they aim to solve.

"People should not think that we are going to be able to engineer a way out of this," said Robert DeConto, director of UMass' School of Earth & Sustainability, per the Daily Hampshire Gazette.

Why is Arctic ice melt important?

The Arctic is warming nearly four times faster than the global average. Melting sea ice and glaciers don't just reshape the poles. They ripple through daily life far from the ice sheet.

Rising seas can push storm tides further inland, threatening other neighborhoods. Saltwater intrusion can damage crops and drinking water. Warmer waters and changing currents disrupt fisheries and seafood supplies. Even attempts to dim sunlight through atmospheric particles, one of the proposals scientists reviewed, could reduce crop yields in New England.

Meanwhile, ocean acidification from continued dirty energy use is already harming shellfish industries in places like Cape Cod. That means fewer jobs, higher seafood prices, and cascading effects on local economies

What's being done about it?

The experts say there's only one real solution: cutting fossil fuel use and accelerating renewable energy adoption.

"The big point that we really try to make in the paper again and again is that transferring to renewable energy is so much cheaper than going through these other routes and these other techniques," Julie Brigham-Grette, head of the UMass Department of Earth, Geographic, and Climate Sciences, said, per the Gazette.

On an individual level, households can help by electrifying appliances, supporting community solar projects, and reducing food waste — all strategies that lower harmful heat-trapping pollution and ease stress on vulnerable systems.

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When extreme weather does cause power outages, pairing rooftop solar with battery storage can help families keep the lights on. Services like EnergySage make it easier to compare local installers and save up to $10,000 on solar installations.

The takeaway from experts is clear: We can't gamble on untested Arctic experiments. Redirecting funding into pollution cuts and resilient infrastructure will protect both polar ice and the communities that depend on it.

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