Luke Iseman, formerly Y Combinator’s hardware director and co-founder of a geoengineering startup, said he added a few grams of sulfur dioxide to a pair of weather balloons and launched them from an unknown location somewhere on the Mexican peninsula last spring. He says he plans to send the balloons to the stratosphere and explode under pressure there, releasing particles into the air.
Scientists believe that injecting sulfur dioxide or other reflective particles into the stratosphere in sufficient quantities could offset some levels of global warming, mimicking the cooling effect from volcanic eruptions. big in the past. But it’s an area of contention, given the unknowns about potential side effects, concerns that even discussing that possibility could undermine the urgency to address the root causes. of climate change and the difficult questions of how to manage a technology capable of regulating the temperature of the planet but possibly having very different regional effects.
Iseman admitted to MIT Technology Review, and other store reported on the effort, that he had not sought scientific or government approval before proceeding with the balloon launches. He later co-founded the startup Make Sunsets to commercialize the concept. The company previously said it had raised about $750,000 in venture capital and planned to sell “cooling credits” for particles released in future balloon launches.
But on January 13, the Mexican Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources announced that the government will ban and, where appropriate, halt all solar geoengineering experiments in the country. The agency noted that the launch of Make Sunset was made without notice or consent. It said the ban was motivated by the risks of geoengineering, the lack of international agreements that oversee such efforts and the need to protect communities and the environment.
Mexico could be one of the first, if not the first, announce such an explicit ban on experiments, although many countries have existing environmental regulations and other policies that may restrict certain activities. It is not clear from the statement that all research in this area will be prohibited, this may also include modeling and laboratory work. The press release also says Mexico will cease all large-scale solar geoengineering, which could mean major tests or full deployment of the technology.
Representatives of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and the Baja California government could not be immediately reached for comment.
‘Hold indefinitely’
Iseman, who did not respond to a question from the MIT Technology Review, said precipice that future launches are “on hold indefinitely.” He speak told the Wall Street Journal that he was “surprised at the speed and scope of the response” and had “expected and hoped for a dialogue.”
But the others weren’t surprised. Shuchi Talati, a resident scholar at American University who is founding a nonprofit focused on governance and justice in solar geoengineering, warned in the original paper. MIT Technology Review that the actions of Make Sunsets could have a chilling effect on the field. She said the unauthorized attempt could reduce government support for geotechnical research and amplification limited request experiment.
