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Mexico cracks down on solar geoengineering

cnbc.com

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Re: Mexico cracks down on solar geoengineering

#31

Post by wolverine876 »

perihelions wrote: post #18
junofan wrote: post #3

> The opposition to these climatic manipulations is based on the fact that there are currently no international agreements that address or supervise solar geoengineering activities, which represent an economically advantageous way out for a minority and risky for the supposed remediation of climate change. > We agree that there are no alternative technologies that replace the need to reduce emissions to remediate cli…

It's a symptom of the Great Stagnation. There's a clear crisis with multiple plausible solutions, yet somehow all of humanity has made ~zero progress (on the geoengineering front) for decades. Never mind that the world's wealthier and more democratic than ever; or that information has never been more accessible to anyone who looks for it; or that technology and engineering are at their highest point in the history of…

It's a symptom of the US Republican Party. They are the only thing standing in the way. Don't take it for granted and give them an out; that's how they can keep doing it. Look at the aggressive obstruction - taking action against businesses (remember the party of the free market and business?) who do anything about climate change, even Microsoft for giving Xboxes a sleep mode.

That's the problem. If you blame something else because you don't want to be 'partisan', you are diverting us from a solution.

Re: Mexico cracks down on solar geoengineering

#33

Post by theonlybutlet »

jxf wrote: post #8
sonofhans wrote: post #5

> The tiny startup Make Sunsets, which had been experimenting with releasing sulfur dioxide into the atmosphere to reflect sunlight in order to cool the earth. This is the mechanism in Neal Stephenson’s _Termination Shock_. The book’s plot depends on a future US government which is non-functional, thus no one can shut them down. These folks were planning to release 500g of sulfur dioxide — that’s completely insignifi…

> These folks were planning to release 500g of sulfur dioxide — that’s completely insignificant, right? Just a POC? Yes, that is a practically undetectable addition of SO2. For reference, the US emitted approximately 2M tons of SO2 in 2019; that's about 1.8 billion kg. The 500g here is approximately one part in one billion. If the startup added 500g of SO2 every single day for the next 10,000 years, they would add 1%…

It's more a case of, what would happen if everyone did it? Those farmers all washing an insignificant amount of pesticide/fertilizer into a river, all add up. That's why we have environmental laws and this is pollution.

Re: Mexico cracks down on solar geoengineering

#34

Post by hef19898 »

dr_dshiv wrote: post #26
remexre wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the logic is similar to why doctors aren't allowed to "just try stuff" on cancer patients without proper oversight, except on a global scale -- if it turns out a geoengineering project has a much worse second-order effect that wasn't considered, people who didn't get a say in its deployment would be impacted.

But why not allow research?

Make Sunsets isn't doing research, they are driving hype in order to sell "cooling credits" to everyday folks on the internet. Or why would you be able to pay for those "credits" using a credit card? This whole thing is more scam than anything else.

Re: Mexico cracks down on solar geoengineering

#35

Post by onion2k »

jxf wrote: post #8
sonofhans wrote: post #5

> The tiny startup Make Sunsets, which had been experimenting with releasing sulfur dioxide into the atmosphere to reflect sunlight in order to cool the earth. This is the mechanism in Neal Stephenson’s _Termination Shock_. The book’s plot depends on a future US government which is non-functional, thus no one can shut them down. These folks were planning to release 500g of sulfur dioxide — that’s completely insignifi…

> These folks were planning to release 500g of sulfur dioxide — that’s completely insignificant, right? Just a POC? Yes, that is a practically undetectable addition of SO2. For reference, the US emitted approximately 2M tons of SO2 in 2019; that's about 1.8 billion kg. The 500g here is approximately one part in one billion. If the startup added 500g of SO2 every single day for the next 10,000 years, they would add 1%…

If it's so insignificant why not do it in the US then?

Re: Mexico cracks down on solar geoengineering

#36

Post by _ikke_ »

car wrote: post #30
kube-system wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

“Ton” itself can also refer two different units: The 2240 lb British long ton and the 2000 lb American short ton. And “metric ton” refers to “tonne”. Tl;dr: a ton of confusion.

Funny, as "Tonne" is the german word for barrel or cask. And also for a metric ton, equaling 1000 kilograms, or 2000 german "Pfund", i.e. pounds.

Besides these things, in Dutch, a ton can also mean €100.000.

Re: Mexico cracks down on solar geoengineering

#37

Post by marginalia_nu »

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.

Re: Mexico cracks down on solar geoengineering

#38

Post by foreigner »

wereHamster wrote: post #4

> Make Sunsets was planning to launch three latex weather balloons that would release anywhere between 10 and 500 grams of sulfur dioxide […] Is that enough for any observable effect?

It's enough to have a massive observable effect on the news media, which was the entire point.

Re: Mexico cracks down on solar geoengineering

#39

Post by cgeier »

I believe (at least) research in solar geoengineering is urgently needed.

No, this is not a long-term replacement for bringing down carbon emissions (not least, because carbon also acidifies our oceans), but if you look at the horrible effects climate change is already causing now, imagine how a world will with average temperature raised by 1.5° or 2.0° Celsius.

Re: Mexico cracks down on solar geoengineering

#40

Post by schnitzelstoat »

wolverine876 wrote: post #31
perihelions wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a symptom of the Great Stagnation. There's a clear crisis with multiple plausible solutions, yet somehow all of humanity has made ~zero progress (on the geoengineering front) for decades. Never mind that the world's wealthier and more democratic than ever; or that information has never been more accessible to anyone who looks for it; or that technology and engineering are at their highest point in the history of…

It's a symptom of the US Republican Party. They are the only thing standing in the way. Don't take it for granted and give them an out; that's how they can keep doing it. Look at the aggressive obstruction - taking action against businesses (remember the party of the free market and business?) who do anything about climate change, even Microsoft for giving Xboxes a sleep mode. That's the problem. If you blame somethi…

The US Republican Party runs Mexico?
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