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Mexico cracks down on solar geoengineering

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Re: Mexico cracks down on solar geoengineering

#231

Post by josefresco »

p0pcult wrote: post #229
josefresco wrote: post #216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One of the scariest book openings I've read (edit: see reply below). Climate change has never been presented to me in a more horrifying way.

Try "Ministry For The Future" if you want an even more horrifying opening to an climate change thriller. (They also end up using geoengineering to mitigate climate change in that novel.)

My bad! That's what I meant. I've read both but I was specifically referring the the Indian heatwave in the opening of Ministry For The Future. Thanks for jogging my memory.

Re: Mexico cracks down on solar geoengineering

#232

Post by hef19898 »

stonogo wrote: post #223
hef19898 wrote: post #187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's not how engineering works. But what do you expect from someone with a Bachelor of Science from Wharton Business school and no education in anything engineering related?

Do you have a form founders can fill out to make sure their credentials meet your approval before they get too far down the startup pipeline? I'd hate to see anyone miss out on criticism as helpful and as insightful as this.

In case I were a VC, or Angel investor, I would have. And right on top of said list would be, when we talk about hardware, proper engineering education. And ideally experience.

Funny, how due dilligence seems to have gone right out of the window in the last couple of years, only to be replaced by having the right connections.

Re: Mexico cracks down on solar geoengineering

#233

Post by otikik »

marginalia_nu wrote: post #37
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…

> [...] experiments with the atmosephere of the people of Mexico? Yeah I'm not sure that's how the atmosphere works. Surely this stuff would diffuse and affect the atmosphere globally.

Farts also eventually dissipate in the atmosphere. I still would prefer that they don’t get released in my immediate vicinity.

Re: Mexico cracks down on solar geoengineering

#234

Post by ASalazarMX »

marginalia_nu wrote: post #37
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…

> [...] experiments with the atmosephere of the people of Mexico? Yeah I'm not sure that's how the atmosphere works. Surely this stuff would diffuse and affect the atmosphere globally.

Mexico City has a significant problem with air pollution because the mountains enclose most of it, like a bowl. Perfect place to make their atmospheric experiments because diffusion is slower.

Re: Mexico cracks down on solar geoengineering

#236

Post by dalmo3 »

schiffern wrote: post #69
seri4l wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Since our society is unable to perform any activity without descending into an uncontrolled positive feedback cycle, I would rather none of us work towards cooling the Earth.

Do you also apply this fatal (and fatalistic) attitude toward efforts to cool the Earth by cutting emissions?

I share GP's concerns, and would answer no to your question. Via negativa is a fundamentally distinct way of thinking.

Re: Mexico cracks down on solar geoengineering

#237

Post by metalspot »

LatteLazy wrote: post #183
metalspot wrote: post #177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

we actually only have 1 option, which is that climate changes, no matter what humans do, and we can change it on the margins though are actions as well. dumping gigatons of CO2 into the atmosphere is geo-engineering. it is just unintentional. saying that climate change (of the anthropocentric CO2 caused variety) will necessarily be catastrophic is scientifically unsupportable. there is a possibility that it will be c…

It's very clear we are not planning to stop. Given that decision, there is no need for us to lie to ourselves and pretend things will be ok, or that what we are doing is no big deal. Or that we can "adapt" our way out of being 20m under water etc...

> "adapt" our way out of being 20m under water

the human race could certainly adapt to 20m sea rise with zero impact on the long term survivavility of the species. we already adapted to much greater sea rise only 10,000 years ago.

will societies and institutions built on the supposed "value" of waterfront properties survive? probably not. but that is a social and institutional problem, not a biological one.

Re: Mexico cracks down on solar geoengineering

#239

Post by manholio »

concordDance wrote: post #160
manholio wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why yes, what could possibly go wrong by releasing the main constituent of acid rain in an haphazard attempt to cool down the Earth, a problem itself created by releasing uncontrolled quantities of other pollutants. Sounds like the setup for a dystopia.

People really shouldn't comment before doing a bit of googling on the scale of things. I doubt you'd have made this comment if you'd known how SO2 much was being released and how much is normally released during the course of the day.

I indeed knew the scale, it's plastered all over this thread, but it's not relevant to the point being made.

The whole scheme is harebrained regardless of the amount, what depends on the amount is the harm it can cause, in the range .

Re: Mexico cracks down on solar geoengineering

#240

Post by andyjsong »

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…

Andrew Song, Co-Founder of Make Sunsets here.

> Why did they choose Mexico? They couldn't get away with it in the US, so it's ok to do experiments with the atmosephere of the people of Mexico? After they were forced to stop,

We chose Mexico as our initial launch site because deployment in the tropics have greater cooling per gram via increased particle residence time [1] (another source)[2]. Luke also bought land in Mexico a year ago prior to starting Make Sunsets to build his primary residence. The company was incorporated in October 2022. The US/Mexico does not have a ban on deploying sulfur dioxide in the atmosphere, if there was, all commercial air flights would be banned as well. Here is the original press release from the Mexican government: https://www.gob.mx/semarnat/prensa/la-experimentacion-con-ge... and our response: https://makesunsets.com/blogs/news/mexico

[1] https://presentations.copernicus.org/EGU21/EGU21-12131_prese...

[2] https://www.pnnl.gov/sites/default/files/media/file/Sensitiv...

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