A startup is trying to combat climate change by releasing sulfur particles into the atmosphere. Make Sunsets, a company that sells carbon offset "cooling credits" for $10 each, is banking on solargeoengineering to cool down the planet. According to the company's website, it has already released two test balloons, each filled with about 10 grams of sulfur particles and intended for the stratosphere.
Adding reflective particles to the upper atmosphere is how solargeoengineering works. It is an idea inspired by the atmospheric side effects of major volcanic eruptions, which have led to drastic, temporary climate shifts, including the notorious "year without a summer" of 1816.
It is not easy to implement the idea. More than 50 years have passed since scientists and engineers began studying the effects of solargeoengineering on the climate. The risks associated with real-world experiments include rapid changes in our planet's precipitation patterns, damage to the ozone layer, and significant geopolitics.
The email was not responded to by Make Sunsets.
Sulfur particles can reflect sunlight away from Earth and cool the planet, but the consequences are less understood and could be catastrophic. There are studies suggesting that sulfur injection over the northern hemisphere would cause massive droughts. Adding sulfur to the south could increase the number of hurricanes in the north.
If we get enough sulfur into the atmosphere to meaningfully cool Earth, we would have to keep adding particles indefinitely to avoid entering an era of climate change about four to six times worse than what we are currently experiencing. Sulfur aerosols are not very long-lived. Depending on particle size and other factors, they can live between a few days and a couple years.
We would still be adding greenhouse gases into the atmosphere while this is happening. If the sulfur delivery system were to break down, CO2 and methane would quickly catch up with us, heating the planet up all at once. Animals and plants would be thrown out of whack as the artificially cooled climate threw them out of whack. The ocean would continue to get worse. It would be a big deal.
The founder of Make Sunsets is walking all of us Earthlings toward the edge of that plank without any kind of regulatory approval.
As long as the thought of intentionally manipulating the atmosphere has been around, rogue agents have been concerned about imposinggeoengineering on the rest of us. The Pentagon's research teams are working on ways to detect and combat such attempts. It's more difficult to defend against solargeoengineering than it is to just do it.
Iseman claims to have released two weather balloons full of sulfur and helium in Baja California, Mexico. The founder told MIT Technology Review that he didn't know what happened to the balloons because they lacked tracking equipment. Maybe they made it to the top of the mountain and released their cargo? According to an MIT Technology Review report, the weather balloon method was previously proposed but not tested or demonstrated to be effective. Scientists are concerned by the attempt.
Janos Pasztor, head of the Carnegie Climate Governance Initiative and a trained nuclear engineer, toldMIT Technology Review that implementing at this stage is a bad idea. He said that the current state of science isn't good enough to justify such experiments.
One gram of sulfur aerosols can counteract the warming effects of one ton of CO2. There isn't a clear scientific basis for such an assertion. The company is selling $10 cooling credits that are likely bunk.
The small amount of sulfur released wouldn't be enough to make a big difference in the environment. Harvard has been trying to get its own sulfur tests off the ground for a long time, and is led by one of the most well-known names ingeoengineering. There is a concern that privatized, for-profit geoengineering could happen. The scientist said that doing it as a startup is a bad idea.
Whether every expert agrees or not,geoengineering will be part of future climate focused efforts. Research funds for solar engineering were approved by the Biden Administration. As the consequences of climate change accelerate, the idea has transitioned from speculative to mainstream discussion. Much more research is needed to prevent solargeoengineering from becoming another human-caused climate disaster.
The solution to climate change is not a single maverick. Make Sunsets is said to have raised nearly $750,000 in funds. The company claims that it can completely offset current warming. We don't recommend taking it.
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