6/23/2023 0 Comments Bill gates dim the sun![]() These are gathered under the umbrella term “solar geoengineering.” The most common and studied method is to reflect sunlight away from Earth using aerosol particles in the atmosphere, but until now, this has been seen as more of a fringe idea. Scientists have devised multiple ways to block sunlight from reaching Earth’s atmosphere or surface. Carbon capture, where emissions are taken and sequestered beneath Earth’s surface, is another major form of geoengineering. One example is cloud seeding, where airplanes flush clouds with particulate matter in order to coalesce into rain. Solar Geoengineering, Explained Geoengineering is a blanket term for technologies that try to alter Earth’s physical qualities on the largest scale possible. ![]() What is solar geoengineering, anyway, and why are scientists suddenly interested in-and concerned by-the concept? government to spend at least $100 million to study solar geoengineering, a controversial technology. This week, the influential National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) also released a new report urging the U.S. Gates and other private donors are backing Harvard University’s Solar Geoengineering Research Program, which will soon launch a new study researching the efficacy of blocking sunlight from reaching Earth’s surface. “This will likely postpone the platform launch until 2022,” the committee said.Bill Gates, who recently suggested the world should eat 100 percent synthetic beef and said bitcoin is bad for the planet, has set his sights on a new foe: the sun. But late last month, a Harvard advisory committee that was set up to study the project’s ethical implications recommended pushing back the test “until a more thorough societal engagement process can be conducted to address issues related to solar geoengineering research in Sweden,” Harvard wrote. The Harvard scientists had planned to launch a high-altitude balloon from Esrange Space Station in Kiruna, Sweden to “test whether it could in future carry equipment to release solar radiation-reflecting particles into the Earth’s atmosphere,” AFP reports. The SCoPEx experiment sought to release just a small amount of aerosol material into the sky in a specific location, but now, Harvard says even this must be considered in more detail and with ethical implications in mind. SCoPEx planned a small pilot experiment, with the rationale that we need to scrutinize and consider the idea of solar geoengineering today so we don’t end up relying on a totally untested technology in the future. But now, Harvard says it’s delaying the study to examine the impact on Sweden itself, as well as the indigenous Sami people who live in the region. The Stratospheric Controlled Perturbation Experiment ( SCoPEx) aimed to see how a tiny amount of aerosol in a trial would influence the immediate surroundings. Gates and other private donors are supporting Harvard University’s Solar Geoengineering Research Program, which had planned to launch a new study based in Sweden in June researching the efficacy of blocking sunlight from reaching Earth’s surface. ![]() Just as quickly as it was announced, a controversial solar geoengineering experiment backed by Bill Gates has been postponed until at least 2022.
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