A rogue
solar geoengineering start-up firm claims to have begun using balloons to
launch reflective clouds into the stratosphere for the purpose of changing the
weather.
Luke Iseman, cofounder and CEO of Make Sunsets,
recently told the MIT Technology Review that he hopes this cloud-seeding effort
might help launch a lucrative "cooling" industry. Because, as Make
Sunsets' website states, "we need to start cooling the world
immediately." And he’d like to make money doing it.
As of now, Make Sunsets efforts have been minor and
stunt-like…thank God.
According to theblaze.com, Iseman has even “condoned
property destruction” as a way to bring about global cooling, though the method
he has personally resolved to use is “geoengineering, specifically by way of ‘albedo
enhancement’ or albedo modification (i.e., the reflection of sunlight).” This
involves spraying reflective substances such as sulfate aerosols, calcium
carbonate particles, aluminum dioxide, or diamonds into the atmosphere 12 to 16
miles above the Earth. Supposedly, this can accomplish what volcanic eruptions
have previously achieved in terms of partially blocking sunlight and
temporarily cooling global mean temperatures.
It is anything but clear that “we need to start
cooling the world immediately.” Making the sun set is a fool’s errand. Do we really want rogue
entities throwing stuff up into the Earth’s atmosphere to see how it affects temperature
and weather patterns? What could go wrong? What happens if we “succeed” in
cooling the Earth…and then suffer a series of massive volcanic
eruptions? Massive crop loss for starters? No one can be certain that
man-caused climate change is occurring…or is a true threat to our way of life
or the planet as a whole. Temperatures and weather patterns have changed far quicker
in the distant past, well prior to homo sapiens’ existence let alone rising
greenhouse gas emissions from humans’ agricultural exploits and industry. But
if we greatly expand on Make Sunsets efforts, we can be sure that the result
will be man-caused climate change, though not of what the results will
be.
And which countries might benefit
by (potential) global cooling? Which might be extremely adversely affected? How
does one rogue start-up/company/operator/entity—or even one nation—get to throw
stuff up into our collective atmosphere? I mean, every little stupid thing is
regulated government nowadays, from how big of a soda container we can purchase to how old we have to be to buy a
pack of smokes or a slingshot, etc. We are subject to ridiculous regulations,
mandates, permits and fines.
If there is anything on Earth
that should be subject to strict regulation and oversight, it would be
the use of experimental methods ejaculating various reflective substances and
materials into Earth’s atmosphere! Shouldn’t the majority of us have a say in
that?
Or can I start a competing
firm, Make Sunrises, and leverage its resources to shoot down the
balloons Make Sunsets is using to launch reflective clouds into our stratosphere?
No comments:
Post a Comment