The company, Make Sunsets, launches balloons that release sulfur dioxide into the atmosphere. The gas—less than what is released during a single cross-country flight—cools the atmosphere by reflecting sunlight.
I just do not know what to think about outfits like this. On the one hand, it’s hilarious that they are using the exact same compound that is released by fossil fuel companies, so any attempts to regulate its release will effect fossil fuel burners more than them. Some states have already banned the intentional release of anything designed for positive effects on the climate, though (i think Tennessee was the first).
On the other hand, the carbon credit economy is largely a sham and a fake fix for our woes, and only really serves to facilitate companies to wash their hands of environmental impacts. Solar geoengineering introduced to this system is destined for failure as well, I believe. We may need to resort to solar geoengineering to preserve what we can of our world, but it will have to be through international cooperation and study combined with reduction of carbon pollution, not by two dudes in a fly-by-night operation releasing balloons.
Scrolled past this story like 6 times and every time I think “damn, Mark Zuckerberg is looking old!”
