People were difficult to leave fossil fuels, which is why some say that we are going to soon have to start geoengineering – that is, modifying the atmosphere to prevent the planet’s catastrophic heating.
Practice is controversial. Some say that this is the only solution, considering that we have waited too long to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. Others say that we must always not perform two uncontrolled experiments on Earth (the first is global combustion of fossil fuels).
This didn’t stop people from the test. And one approach supported by Sunshine He drew the attention of the American Environmental Protection Agency.
The startup is mainly two guys from the Silicon Valley who released weather balloons filled with hydrogen particles and sulfur dioxide. When the balloon floats somewhere at 66,000 feet at height, it bursts and releases sulfur dioxide particles, which distract and reflect sunlight, cooling the soil a bit.
The company sells “cooling loans” based on how much estimated insulation deny each balloon edition. Make Sunsets collected $ 750,000, according to PitchBook, and Startup claims that his investors are Boost VC, Draper Associates and Pioneer Fund.
No founder is a scientist, but the science behind sulfur dioxide and the sun reflection coefficient is reasonable. People by accident proved The importance of sulfur dioxide in the global albedo – average reflection factor of the earth’s surface – when they reduced the sulfur content in sea naval fuels in 2020; Has one of the outstanding climate scientists he argued in favor internships.
Despite this, taking into account the complexity of the global climate, it is not clear what other effects practice can have. It can instill a storm in one region, depriving other areas of rain. Several scientists have called a warning.
In addition, if sulfur dioxide molecules drift closer to soil, they’ll exacerbate asthma of individuals and cause other respiratory problems. Here, EPA questions Sulsts’s approach to geoengineering. Sulfur dioxide is regulated as air pollution. Administrator EPA Lee Zeldin said this week that the agency is company survey.
Make Sulsts argues that his actions are legal. IN FAQ On its website, the company says: “Yes, our cool land method belongs to the Act on the weather modification of 1976 and reports to NOAA our implementations annually in accordance with the requirements.”
The law is blurred here. When it was written, the Act on weather modification was probably intended to cover the practice of sowing clouds, in which particles resembling silver iodide are shot in the clouds to cause rain or snowfall. Most weather modifications are performed by entities resembling ski resorts AND Irigue districts in the West. His not clear How law applies to climate modification.
Despite this, although EPA could also be justified in its investigation, it is not in line with Zeldin’s approach to pollution.
Agency Efforts to increase coal They will probably generate much more sulfur dioxide pollution than it should make the sunsets free themselves with balloons. Balloon Make Sunsets released November 15, 20241715 grams of sulfur dioxide released. In 2023, American power plants were issued 650,000 tons into the atmosphere, majority from which he comes from coal. It is roughly the same amount as 343,900,000 startup balloons.