Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Mexico cracks down on solar geoengineering

cnbc.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

211–220 of 272 posts

Re: Mexico cracks down on solar geoengineering

#211

Post by BurningFrog »

dubcanada wrote: post #79

I really don’t like the idea of solar geoengineering. If we start sending up sulfur dioxide into the atmosphere and it fixes the problem. What do you think we’re going to do? Stop caring about global warming entirely, and pump way more green house gases… why wouldn’t we? We can just fix it with more sulfur dioxide. Then you send up more and more and more. And eventually something breaks. Now for some reason a countri…

Sounds like you really don’t like the idea of solving problems in general.

I mean, these arguments seem to apply to pretty much any problems.

Re: Mexico cracks down on solar geoengineering

#212

Post by BurningFrog »

mcv wrote: post #87
perihelions wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Keep in mind that ordinary SO₂ pollution doesn't make its way into the stratosphere. It's a different problem.

Isn't that kind of SO2 release the cause of acid rain? Because that's not good. If we're going to release those millions of tons of CO2 into the atmosphere anyway, maybe it makes sense to release it into the stratosphere instead, to duplicate the cooling effect of the volcano. Although that's not so easily done. Also, apart from a cooling effect, what other effects did that volcanic release of SO2 have?

I believe SO₂ in the stratosphere is above the rain cycle and does not affect it.

It also breaks down in 1-2 years.

Re: Mexico cracks down on solar geoengineering

#213

Post by BurningFrog »

mcv wrote: post #184
jxf wrote: post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The cooling effect comes in part from a reduction of light reaching the Earth's surface, lowering the amount of energy that plants receive to grow.

I looked it up on Wikipedia: > The powerful eruption of such an enormous volume of lava and ash injected significant quantities of aerosols and dust into the stratosphere. Sulfur dioxide oxidized in the atmosphere to produce a haze of sulfuric acid droplets, which gradually spread throughout the stratosphere over the year following the eruption. The injection of aerosols into the stratosphere is thought to have been…

The fact that the effect is temporary is one of the best parts of this scheme.

If it turns out to have unforeseen bad effects, just stop doing it, and it will be gone.

Re: Mexico cracks down on solar geoengineering

#214

Post by mrcheesebreeze »

BurningFrog wrote: post #210
wolverine876 wrote: post #29

This isn't a Mexican company; the person behind it is. > Luke Iseman, a serial inventor and the former director of hardware at Y Combinator ... he started tinkering with releasing sulfur dioxide particles into the atmosphere with balloons, raised venture capital to fund the startup, and brought on co-founder Andrew Song to manage sales. Why did they choose Mexico? They couldn't get away with it in the US, so it's ok…

The geoengineering goal here is to release the particles into the stratosphere, which is at 10-30 km altitude, and not generally breathed by the people on the ground. Let's not pretend that releasing 500g of sulfur dioxide there has any impact on people on the ground.

then maybe it should be done in america, mexico has zero obligation to allow experimentation in their atmosphere.

Re: Mexico cracks down on solar geoengineering

#215

Post by unethical_ban »

ibz wrote: post #123
HPsquared wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You could make the same argument against medical care. "If we start healing the sick, people will stop taking care of their health". That's not even considering potential side effects of therapies, medicines, etc. Any action has a balance of good and bad, both directly and indirectly.

And that's essentially what has happened. We are sicker than ever because we have easy cures. The problem is that modern medicine works on the symptoms, not on root causes. So the more we "cure" symptoms, the more sick we become, overall.

The problem is that modern medicine works, so people are alive rather than dead.

Re: Mexico cracks down on solar geoengineering

#217

Post by Teever »

BurningFrog wrote: post #210
wolverine876 wrote: post #29

This isn't a Mexican company; the person behind it is. > Luke Iseman, a serial inventor and the former director of hardware at Y Combinator ... he started tinkering with releasing sulfur dioxide particles into the atmosphere with balloons, raised venture capital to fund the startup, and brought on co-founder Andrew Song to manage sales. Why did they choose Mexico? They couldn't get away with it in the US, so it's ok…

The geoengineering goal here is to release the particles into the stratosphere, which is at 10-30 km altitude, and not generally breathed by the people on the ground. Let's not pretend that releasing 500g of sulfur dioxide there has any impact on people on the ground.

If it has no effect, why are they bothering to do it?

Does releasing 500g of co2 have any impact on tbe people on the ground?

Re: Mexico cracks down on solar geoengineering

#218

Post by abecedarius »

mschuster91 wrote: post #152
dubcanada wrote: post #79

I really don’t like the idea of solar geoengineering. If we start sending up sulfur dioxide into the atmosphere and it fixes the problem. What do you think we’re going to do? Stop caring about global warming entirely, and pump way more green house gases… why wouldn’t we? We can just fix it with more sulfur dioxide. Then you send up more and more and more. And eventually something breaks. Now for some reason a countri…

> If we start sending up sulfur dioxide into the atmosphere and it fixes the problem. What do you think we’re going to do? Stop caring about global warming entirely, and pump way more green house gases… why wouldn’t we? We can just fix it with more sulfur dioxide. This is precisely why there are such immense amounts spent on geoengineering research - the big polluters do everything they can to keep making money out o…

> such immense amounts spent on geoengineering research

That's interesting. What's the best-funded example of this?

Re: Mexico cracks down on solar geoengineering

#219

Post by hef19898 »

Teever wrote: post #217
BurningFrog wrote: post #210

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The geoengineering goal here is to release the particles into the stratosphere, which is at 10-30 km altitude, and not generally breathed by the people on the ground. Let's not pretend that releasing 500g of sulfur dioxide there has any impact on people on the ground.

If it has no effect, why are they bothering to do it? Does releasing 500g of co2 have any impact on tbe people on the ground?

Because the have VConey, need to show traction and sell you "cooling credits" in their web shop. So every ounce of PR, positive or negative, helps.
Post reply on HN