Scientists have a creative solution to help the melting ice caps — make more ice

When faced with the problem of what to do about the Arctic's melting ice caps, a team of scientists from Arizona State University wondered — what if we just made more ice?

According to CNN, the researchers proposed a $500 billion initiative that requires the construction of 10 million wind-powered pumps that would recycle water from the sea and deposit it onto the surface of ice caps, where it would then freeze.

Steven Desch, an astrophysics professor who worked on the project, admitted his team's solution would be nothing more than a band-aid, a temporary fix which wouldn't do much to stave off the larger effects of climate change. But because the ice caps are melting so quickly, he thought it best that scientists do something, anything, to act fast.

"There will be no summer sea ice by 2030 and nothing we do on the world stage is going to change that in time," he told CNN. "We're not going to cut back CO2 emissions in time to prevent that outcome."

If Desch's plan sounds like a stretch, that's because it just might be. 

Julienne Stroeve, a senior scientist at the National Snow and Ice Data Center, doesn't believe even 10 million ice-making machines would be able to freeze ice as fast as humans would melt it. 

Considering recent revelations that human activity is speeding up climate change 170 times faster than natural forces, that's not altogether unsurprising.

"The excess heat at lower latitudes would still be transported towards the Arctic via atmospheric and oceanic circulation and this would counter efforts to grow ice in the Arctic," she told the outlet. 

But Desch still believes his plan might just work — that is, in tandem with other climate-saving strategies.

He told CNN, "It's ambitious and a little bit crazy in scope, but all of the options on the table are a little bit crazy."