Climate researcher decided to use solar geoengineering, to cool Earth’s temperature In the same way that volcanoes cause clouds that reflect sunlight.
The idea came following a US geological survey monitored, following the eruption of Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines in 1991, thousands of tons of sulfur dioxide in the stratosphere, which reduced average global temperatures by regarding one degree Fahrenheit.
While the idea of replicating these conditions to combat climate change has generally been dismissed as more science fiction than real science. But as the effects of climate change become more serious and visible, the idea has received more serious attention, and the White House is in the process of coordinating a five-year research plan to study it.
On the downside, injecting sulfur dioxide into the atmosphere can damage the ozone layer, cause respiratory illnesses, and trigger acid rain. According to what Edward Parson, a professor of environmental law at the University of California, told CNBC, which was reviewed by Al Arabiya.net.
He added that running a program that cools the Earth by one degree Celsius would also cost less than $10 billion annually. It is significantly cheaper compared to other mitigation techniques.
Two scenarios.. which is less bad?
So which of these two scenarios is less bad? Most scientists who study the problem aren’t sure, but they think it’s important to start examining the implications.
Meanwhile, Make Sunsets, founded by climate researcher Luke Eisman, has raised more than half a million dollars in venture capital, and the company’s goal revolves around “hot spots,” according to its website.
“We’re going to make biodegradable, high-altitude reflective clouds that cool the planet. It’s an imitation of natural processes, as ‘shiny clouds’ will prevent catastrophic global warming,” Ezman explained. It is a scientific term that refers to reflecting sunlight.
Ezman does not want to wait for the studies, as he believes that there is no time left. He praised his idea, saying, “I haven’t found a better solution, other than ‘improving albedo’, which has a chance of keeping us below 2 degrees Celsius from pre-industrial levels.”
Launching balloons in Baja and selling Cooling Credits
Make Sunsets plans to launch 3 latex balloons into the atmosphere this January, which will release between 10 and 500 grams of sulfur dioxide. The balloons will include a flight-tracking computer, a GPS tracker and a camera. Within a week of each trip, Make Sunsets will post data on their website regarding what they were able to find.
This isn’t Ezman’s first project, as he has designed, invented, built, and deployed biochar ovens in rural Kenya, a Wi-Fi-connected solar powered garden sensor, and tiny homes made from shipping containers, among other projects. For a year and a half, Eisman worked as hardware manager at Silicon Valley’s leading startup store, Y Combinator.
Izman now lives off the grid in Baja, Mexico, on land he bought two years ago, where he continues to repair.
As a business, Make Sunsets will sell “cooling credits,” as he calls them, or “carbon credits,” starting at $10, which companies will be able to buy to offset their carbon footprints.
Ezman was wary of the idea of companies or individuals paying to decarbonize or mitigate the effects of global warming. “At first, I was quite skeptical regarding the voluntary carbon credit market,” he said. “I thought it was either really expensive for very legitimate things that hopefully will save the world in 50 to 200 years. Or they are inexpensive things where you want to trade the right not to cut down a tree.” The future.
But Eismann believes future carbon markets will evolve to include two things that already work: permanent carbon dioxide removal, which would be expensive, and sunlight-reflection technology, which Eismann says would be incredibly inexpensive at scale. Pointing out that the main cost of large-scale solar reflection technology efforts is sulfur dioxide.
Big criticism
Ezman’s theory faces some criticism, especially since the negative results are very difficult to measure, in addition to the absence of an international law regulating such experiments, whose impact would be outside the borders of a particular region or country.
Janus Pasztor, executive director of the Carnegie Climate Management Initiative, disparaged the idea of making clouds whiter because there are no international governance standards for solar geoengineering yet.
But he wasn’t surprised someone would try it.
Harvard University professor David Keith, who has been working on the subject since the late 1980s, said: “It makes no sense as a business or as a statement.”
But, he added, “the science suggests that the benefits may be far greater than the risks,” but the research community is weak and skeptical, and trust must be earned through a broader and more comprehensive research effort.
Ezman himself is not entirely comfortable with the idea of solar geoengineering being run by a private company either. But he does not believe that international governments will cooperate and coordinate with each other at the right time.
