The Reflect Initiative
Albedo manipulation- for the planet's sake.
Who are we?
The Reflect Initiative is a youth-led non-profit think tank organization that endorses the brightest innovations in albedo manipulation, including our own, sharing them for the world to see. We lobby local governments, partner with science organizations, and inform the public of the dangers of the albedo feedback loop. Scroll through this page to learn about albedo, what's going wrong, and how we can take action.
Sign our petition now to make roofs white. Click Here
What is Albedo?
It's not as complicated as you'd think.
Albedo is the measure of reflectivity within a surface. The greater albedo a surface has, the more sunlight it reflects out of the Earth’s atmosphere and back into space. The measure is expressed as a number in between 0 and 1, with 0 meaning the surface absorbs all sunlight, and 1 meaning the surface reflects all sunlight. Surfaces that are white tend have a higher albedo, meaning they reflect more light, while surfaces that are black tend to have a lower albedo, meaning they reflect less light. Every surface on Earth is like a mirror, reflecting a certain amount of light, yet some surfaces are more powerful mirrors than others. That's albedo.
But why are we talking about it?
Earth is becoming less reflective.
The climate crisis is disrupting albedo levels.
As the planet warms, it’s albedo decreases. Rising temperatures have caused sea-ice to melt, resulting in more open ocean to be exposed. Since oceans have a dark color and a low albedo, they absorb a lot of sunlight, rather than reflect it. This further warms the planet, and the cycle repeats. In addition, high albedo surfaces like snow cover have become less abundant, making polar regions less white- therefore less reflective. It's a disastrous positive feedback loop that won't falter unless action is taken.
We can fix this.
Earth can be made more reflective.
Using engineering, ingenuity, and innovation, albedo levels can be manipulated for the planet's benefit- at local and global scales. Let's take a look at some ideas below.
Solar Albedo Farms
Solar farms harvest the sun’s energy, but their black panels do little to reflect radiation. What if large unused tracks of land were filled with high-albedo white panels that efficiently reflected sunlight at a low cost? This could effectively make up for albedo levels lost in snow cover and ice loss.
White Roof Takeover
Traditionally, roofs are painted black or other dark colors. If you’ve read this far, you know that equals low reflectivity. If all roofs were white, albedo levels would increase drastically at the low price of a fun day of painting.
The Reflect Initiative is all about ideas.
These innovations above just scratch the surface. We have built The Reflect Initiative to be a space where fresh concepts involving albedo manipulation can flourish. And we won't stop there. We aim to lobby local governments, coordinate with scientific organizations, and raise public awareness regarding the dangers of the albedo feedback loop. To get involved, send in your ideas- we'll highlight a new one each month. Just click the email button below. As we do that, we will push for albedo-friendly policies in our communities.