Just as quickly as it was announced, a controversial solar geoengineering experiment backed by Bill Gates has . SCoPEx said its ongoing experiment aims to improve computer models of solar geoengineering by obtaining some real-world data about how chemicals react in the skies. Just as quickly as it was announced, a controversial solar geoengineering experiment backed by Bill Gates has been postponed until at least 2022. Lastly, they ask, who would get to decide how solar geoengineering is usedand how would such a decision be fair? This one is easy to take on-the-go with you if you're camping, and easy to store if you're using it at home in case of a power outage. Due to the controversial subject matter (more on that below) and the fact that it is privately funded, SCoPEx is overseen by an outside panel of advisers run by Harvard. The launch will not release any stratospheric aerosols. Considering the unknown risks attached to solar geoengineering, OECD members should continue in their efforts to develop economically attractive renewable energy technology, even as it supplements such efforts with limited and careful research and experimentation. 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. The proposed Harvard experiment would use a high-altitude balloon to lift instruments into the atmosphere and release aerosols. SCoPEx will take a small step in its early research this June near the town of Kiruna, Sweden, where the Swedish Space Corporation has agreed to help launch a balloon carrying scientific equipment 12 miles (20 km) high. But there is no suggestion he is in favor of blocking all sunlight from reaching Earth. Claim that Bill Gates is scheming to block the sun is wrong If Your Time is short Harvard researchers proposed a small-scale experiment that would spray aerosols into the atmosphere to. ", USDA is predicting egg prices will be $12 a dozen by fall 2022.. The 1815 eruption of Mount Tambora in Indonesia resulted in the year without a summer, while the 1991 eruption of Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines lowered global average temperatures by 0.5 C. Deliberate introduction of similar particles could potentially counter decades of greenhouse gas emissions. As Popular Mechanics noted, "(A)ll of the scientists and backers involved are only suggesting doing researchnot taking large-scale action.". Prominent campaigner Greta Thunberg came out in support of the indigenous peoples and against solar geoengineering. 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. Digital IDs were given to residents in East Palestine, Ohio, to track long term health problems like difficulty breathing before the Feb. 3 train derailment. The meteor strike that might have killed the dinosaurs blanketed the Earth in a layer of aerosol dust. Bill Gates is funding a controversial Harvard University 'Solar Geoengineering Research Program' which will soon launch an in-depth study researching on how to block sun rays from reaching the . Bill Gates is now best known as a philanthropist, not the guy who started Microsoft or was the avatar for everyone's annoyance with Windows 95. Climate research, renewables and circularity, Solar engineering would see reflective particles. Alex Kasprak is an investigative journalist and science writer reporting on scientific misinformation, online fraud, and financial crime. It will only test the balloon, not release any aerosols. Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own. 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. In a 2010 Ted Talk, Gates argued that if society ends up in a position where global warming is bad enough that geoengineering needs to be taken seriously, it should already know and understand the process and its potential consequences. And its not just academics who object to the concept and practice of solar geoengineering. This group signs off on major research decisions and audits SCoPEx's finances. We may earn commission from links on this page, but we only recommend products we back. Bill Gates's PR companies are again reporting on a UN study that is pushing for atmospheric modification to block the sun. In the future, a small amount of the dustbetween 100g to 2kgwould be released to study atmospheric changes. But SCoPEx researcher and Harvard professor David Keithsays concerns like these are not supported by science. #BillGates is buying out all of the farmlands and trying to figure out ways to block out the SUN for THREE DAYS!!! In other words, it's a very small-scale project, far from the climate-altering claims about it that have surfaced on social media. According to the team, the design for future SCoPEx flights required a balloon that can fly a 600 kg payload close to an altitude of 12 miles. Again, these temperature decreases bring with them serious risks. In 2015, the National Academies of Sciences, for example, released a two-part report on climate interventions like solar radiation management. Weitere Informationen ber die Verwendung Ihrer personenbezogenen Daten finden Sie in unserer Datenschutzerklrung und unserer Cookie-Richtlinie. Make a DIY Cigar Box Florescent Rock Display. The moon partially covers the sun in a cloudy sky during a solar eclipse on 2 July 2018 in Quito, Ecuador. Instruments carried by the balloon monitorthat region for changes inaerosol density, atmospheric chemistryand light scattering. Then where do you go? Improved understanding of these processes will help answer applied questions such as, is it possible to find aerosols that can reduce or eliminate ozone loss, without increasing other physical risks? Solar geoengineering is a subfield of geoengineering, which refers to efforts to alter the environment to limit the effects of climate change. Further, a diffuse cloud of chalky powder gently perturbed by a propeller-driven weather balloon 12 miles above the arctic is in no way capable of altering the global climate system. Since 2007, Bill Gates has funded research initiatives that, in part, provide grants for experiments related to solar radiation management a form of geoengineering controversially proposed. Snopes said SCoPEx is also financed by the Fund for Innovative Climate and Energy Research (FICER), a fund for research grants co-created by Gates in 2007. This technology would trigger a global cooling effect," blared a viral tweet from RapTV, an . The Earth is warming rapidly as a result of human-caused emissions. It is not a test of solar geoengineering per se. The risks of solar geoengineering are poorly understood and can never be fully known, the scholars say. (Read more about our partnership with Facebook.). I'm not sure that's wise, given the importance of the problem, but there's now the geoengineering discussion about: Should that be in the back pocket in case things happen faster, or this innovation [in sustainable energy] goes a lot slower than we expect? "One example is cloud seeding, where airplanes flush clouds with particulate matter in order to coalesce into rain.". Geo-Solar Engineering to Save the Planet By Nancy Thorner Reported by Frank Bergman on February 18, 2023: George Soros, worth 10 billion as of 2023, is pushing a plan to block the sun to fight climate change as a way to cool Earth's global temperature.. Soros outlined his plan during his address at the Munich Security Conference on Thursday, Feb. 17, 2023. "It doesn't guarantee they'll make the right decision. Is Bill Gates Funding Efforts To Block The Sun? .css-v1xtj3{display:block;font-family:FreightSansW01,Helvetica,Arial,Sans-serif;font-weight:100;margin-bottom:0;margin-top:0;-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;}@media (any-hover: hover){.css-v1xtj3:hover{color:link-hover;}}@media(max-width: 48rem){.css-v1xtj3{font-size:1.1387rem;line-height:1.2;margin-bottom:1rem;margin-top:0.625rem;}}@media(min-width: 40.625rem){.css-v1xtj3{line-height:1.2;}}@media(min-width: 48rem){.css-v1xtj3{font-size:1.18581rem;line-height:1.2;margin-bottom:0.5rem;margin-top:0rem;}}@media(min-width: 64rem){.css-v1xtj3{font-size:1.23488rem;line-height:1.2;margin-top:0.9375rem;}}USAF's Reactor Creates Jet Fuel Out of Water, Air, Ring Lasers Can Allow Time Travel, Scientist Says, Mystery on Easter Island: More Moai Found in Lake, Ironton Found: Solving An 1894 Shipwreck Mystery, Scientists Discovered a Highly Reactive Superacid, 60 Scientists Are Trying to Block the Sun. Since 2007, Bill Gates has funded research initiatives that, in part, provide grants for experiments related to solar radiation management a form of geoengineering controversially proposed as a last-ditch solution to anthropogenic global warming. Large scale use of the processknown as solar geoengineeringis a "terrifying" concept that is only likely to be used in the future if significant regions of the planet become too warm to be habitable, Harvard University Professor Frank Keutsch told The Times. You may need heart surgery or something. Jan. 5, 2021, USA Today, "Fact check: Bill Gates is not trying to 'block the sun's rays' in the name of climate change," April 23, 2021, Wilson Center, "Solar Radiation Management," Sept. 20, 2020. The experiment involves launching a high-altitude balloon about 12 miles into the atmosphere, according to its website. Geoengineering is a blanket term for technologies that try to alter Earths physical qualities on the largest scale possible. February . According to Snopes,. Proponents of solar geoengineering, also known as solar radiation modification, say deployment of the technology could be a shortcut to slow a rise in global temperatures that is stoking more. Harvard researchers proposed a small-scale experiment that would spray aerosols into the atmosphere to reflect some sunlight back into space, a technology aimed at minimizing global warming. The claim: Bill Gates is working to block the sun to prevent global warming Bill Gates' wealth has allowed him to donate and invest in projects across the globe. In the case of Keutsch's experiment, the chemical will be calcium carbonate, which is essentially a chalk dust. Keith and fellow SCoPEx scientists published a paper in 2017 suggesting that the dust may actually replenish the ozone layer by reacting with ozone-destroying molecules. Why Trust Us? According to Snopes, SCoPEx is also financed by the Fund for Innovative Climate and Energy Research (FICER), a fund for research grants co-created by Gates in 2007. The post referstoHarvard'sStratospheric Controlled Perturbation Experiment, orSCoPEx, which is financially backed by Gates. Thats hard to say right now, but all of the scientists and backers involved are only suggesting doing researchnot taking large-scale action. Neither is it desirable, ethical, or politically governable.. The Gates-supported study seeks to do exploratory, small-scale experiments in the atmosphere: Calcium carbonate is a plentiful and harmless mineral thats also the active ingredient in Tums. STOP HIM. While the mechanism of an aerosol solar geoengineering study is simplethe physical structure of aerosol particles literally blocks and scatters lightthe reality is more complex. Keutsch's counter, in essence, is that we don't yet know enough about the mechanics of the solution to adequately understand its risks. . Gear-obsessed editors choose every product we review. The process is not without controversy, as some experts have voiced fears that blasting chemicals into our immediate orbit tampers with the natural order, making weather less predictable or threatening populations' food supplies by causing drought. BILL GATES TOO. Gates only connection to the research is through his donation to Harvards Solar Geoengineering Research Program, which is providing part of the funding for the project. Major disruption of the global climate could bring unintended consequences, negatively impacting highly populated regions and engineering another refugee crisis. 801 3rd St. S For now, research into the field is fairly limited. Although . To refine these models, scientists need to know how the aerosols interact with the atmosphere on a nanoscale. The balloon will be used to measure resulting changes, including atmospheric chemistry. Update 01/22/2022 GMT1240: This post has been updated to clarify the Carnegie Climate Governance Initiatives stance on solar geoengineering technologies, as noted by C2G executive director Janos Pasztor. The world's richest man has provided at least $4.5 million of his own money over 3 years for the study of methods that could alter the stratosphere to reflect solar energy, techniques to filter carbon dioxide directly from the atmosphere, and brighten .