Zany ideas to slow polar melting are gathering momentum

These rises in sea levels threaten coastal properties and the livelihoods and lifestyles of coastal communities, as well as the very existence of low-lying countries. Rising seas not only erode or flood land, they also let destructive storms reach ever farther inland. As melting polar ice becomes an ever more important contributor to sea-level rise, some have begun to embrace the notion that it could be slowed by technological means ranging from underwater curtains to ice-thickening pumps.