Qatar 2022: Fake Clouds, Solar Powered Shades
Qatar World Cup organisers are taking inspiration from TV show The Simpsons in attempting to block out the sun.
As you know the World Cup in 2022 will be held in Qatar. More specifically, it will be held in the summer in Qatar. One need not be a meteorologist or a veteran of the Gulf to know that this is not the world’s most sensible idea (as FIFA’s own technical report noted).
Still, c’est la vie and all that.
To counter the gross heat two super ideas have surfaced in the past few days: Artificial clouds and a floating solar powered shade. Great ideas. What can possibly go wrong?
But even were I to – grudgingly – cover up my eternal cynicism for a moment or two, it must be pointed out that these ideas are really rather exceedingly far from remotely solving the problems. Crucially, the oppressive humidity will still be around (if not made worse by extra cloud cover).
Back to the drawing board, fellas.
David B Roberts is a Phd student at Durham University, UK focusing on
Persian Gulf international relations, with a particular interest in Qatar's
foreign policy. He has lived throughout the Middle East, speaks Arabic with varying degrees of success and is the creator of www.thegulfblog.com 
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