Scientists at Harvard, Cornell, and beyond have been investigating the possibility of stratospheric solar geoengineering—that is, combating global warming by releasing aerosols into the stratosphere to reflect the sun's heat. But as David Gelles writes for the New York Times, "All geoengineering is not created equal ... [others] are barreling ahead without any scientific study." That includes the California-based start-up Make Sunsets, whose 41-year-old co-founder, Luke Iseman, credits the company's genesis to a sci-fi novel.
They've raised $1 million in VC funding, and sell "cooling credits" to eco-conscious customers who want to offset their own emissions. Once enough credits have been sold, Iseman and his colleagues release a giant weather balloon of sulfur dioxide and helium—80 so far. When those balloons get high enough and the pressure gets too great they pop, releasing about four pound of sulfur dioxide. There is a scientific basis to what they're doing: Volcanic eruptions have caused temporary cooling in the past, but "no one has attempted to intentionally replicate the effect at scale," writes Gelles.
Sikina Jinnah, a professor of environmental studies at the University of California Santa Cruz, suggests Make Sunsets shouldn't be the one to attempt it. "They are a couple of tech bros who have no expertise in doing what they're claiming to do." Other experts warn more generally of unanticipated consequences from playing around with the Earth's atmosphere; reduced sunlight, for instance, could alter the monsoon season that India so heavily relies on. Others question the scientific calculations behind Make Sunsets' "cooling credit" claims and whether their small-scale releases can have any effect. One customer is undeterred: "If you plant one tree, doesn't that mitigate climate change, even if one cannot measure it?" (Read the full story here.)
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